Hamburg port sees weak first half
Trade volumes at Hamburg port, Germany's largest, were "terrible" at the end of last year and the outlook for the first half of this year is no better, according to a port executive, Reuters reported.
Hamburg is Europe's second-biggest container port after Rotterdam and handles around 10 percent of Germany's foreign trade, offering an insight into the health of the country's exports.
Port of Hamburg marketing said the volume of goods shipped to and from the port by sea in 2008 matched the 140.4 million tonnes handled in 2007 but that trade fell off sharply late last year.
"In 2008, the fourth quarter was terrible and there is no expectation for it to be better in the first and second quarter of this year," Juergen Sorgenfrei, chairman of Port of Hamburg Marketing, told Reuters.
"We are now planning month by month," he said.
Economic growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, slipped to a three-year low in 2008, dragged down by a marked slowdown in exports which analysts expect to continue this year and push the country into its worst post-war recession.
Port of Hamburg marketing, which is backed by the city authorities and port operators, said in a statement it expected "a noticeable recovery from the currently weak period of global trade in the second half of the year at the earliest."
Asked if he was convinced there would be a second-half recovery, Sorgenfrei said, "Convinced, no. We are hoping for that."
Hamburg is a major trans-shipment point, where big container ships that do not go into the Baltic Sea offload and pick up cargo that smaller feeder vessels ferry to and from Russia.
"Business with Russia is not going so well. Commerce with Finland isn't so good either. This is linked to these countries also being affected by the economic situation and we can't say when we will see the turnaround point," Sorgenfrei said.
German industry orders posted their biggest annual decline since reunification in December as demand for manufactured goods fell away sharply for the fourth month in succession.
"If industry isn't working, the port can't work more than industry," Hamburg economy senator Axel Gedaschko told Reuters.
Of the port business outlook, he added, "It's very foggy."
While the mood across corporate Germany is still gloomy, business sentiment unexpectedly rose for the first time in eight months in January, boosting hopes that stimulus measures will help stabilise Europe's largest economy later this year.
Hamburg is Europe's second-biggest container port after Rotterdam and handles around 10 percent of Germany's foreign trade, offering an insight into the health of the country's exports.
Port of Hamburg marketing said the volume of goods shipped to and from the port by sea in 2008 matched the 140.4 million tonnes handled in 2007 but that trade fell off sharply late last year.
"In 2008, the fourth quarter was terrible and there is no expectation for it to be better in the first and second quarter of this year," Juergen Sorgenfrei, chairman of Port of Hamburg Marketing, told Reuters.
"We are now planning month by month," he said.
Economic growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, slipped to a three-year low in 2008, dragged down by a marked slowdown in exports which analysts expect to continue this year and push the country into its worst post-war recession.
Port of Hamburg marketing, which is backed by the city authorities and port operators, said in a statement it expected "a noticeable recovery from the currently weak period of global trade in the second half of the year at the earliest."
Asked if he was convinced there would be a second-half recovery, Sorgenfrei said, "Convinced, no. We are hoping for that."
Hamburg is a major trans-shipment point, where big container ships that do not go into the Baltic Sea offload and pick up cargo that smaller feeder vessels ferry to and from Russia.
"Business with Russia is not going so well. Commerce with Finland isn't so good either. This is linked to these countries also being affected by the economic situation and we can't say when we will see the turnaround point," Sorgenfrei said.
German industry orders posted their biggest annual decline since reunification in December as demand for manufactured goods fell away sharply for the fourth month in succession.
"If industry isn't working, the port can't work more than industry," Hamburg economy senator Axel Gedaschko told Reuters.
Of the port business outlook, he added, "It's very foggy."
While the mood across corporate Germany is still gloomy, business sentiment unexpectedly rose for the first time in eight months in January, boosting hopes that stimulus measures will help stabilise Europe's largest economy later this year.