In the year just ended, 2.1 million passengers, an increase of 2.0 %, passed through the Port of Kiel while 6.2 million tons of cargo were handled – 4.2 % less than in the previous year. The decline in cargo is mainly the result of weak bulk cargo handling totals. Neither power station coal nor grain handling could show increases over the previous year.
In the ferry traffic sector, which is the Port of Kiel’s core business area, the number of loading units handled was just about the same as in the previous twelve months. Overall more than 414,000 RoRo units were loaded or unloaded last year - a decline of 0.4 %.
Kiel’s trade with East Europe had to face the handling restrictions in force between the EU and Russia as well as a devaluation of the Ruble. While the Kiel-Klaipeda (Lithuania) service was again able to maintain its cargo volumes at more than two million tons, the direct services to St Petersburg and Ust-Luga lost about a quarter of their volumes. The shipping company DFDS Seaways reacted to this development in autumn 2015 by concluding a slot-charter agreement covering liner shipping services to Russia. Since then, Finnlines ships from St Petersburg and Ust-Luga have been calling at the Ostuferhafen once a week, delivering mainly Russian forestry products to Kiel. Because of the continuing strong demand for warehouse storage of timber storage, the SEEHAFEN KIEL is to erect a further warehouse – Shed 6 – this year.
The 2015 cruise shipping season in Kiel closed on October 20th with a visit by the “AIDAcara”. Overall last year, the port was visited by cruise ships on 132 occasions, compared to 127 visits in 2014. Twenty five different ships called with a total tonnage of more than 8.6 million GT – a 19.4% increase over 2014. The number of passengers who boarded or disembarked from cruise ships at Kiel terminals in 2015 rose to 458,152, which was 29.4 % more than in the previous year.
Intermodal road/rail traffic continued to show strong growth. Last year for the first time, more than 28,000 trailers and containers were transloaded onto rail waggons at Kiel’s railway terminals. This was an increase of 6.4%. The biggest growth was recorded on the service to and from Verona, now operating five times a week in both directions. In order to be able to process the growing volumes of cargo in good time, the SEEHAFEN KIEL has invested in new handling technology. The Ostuferhafen has already been provided with a high-capacity portal crane and now a comparable piece of equipment is operating at the Schwedenkai Terminal. Kiel is, in addition, also linked to the national rail network as well as to many international destinations by the intermodal shuttle service to and from Hamburg-Billwerder, which operates five times a week. In the Ostuferhafen and at the Schwedenkai Terminal, intermodal trains offer direct connections to ferries serving the Baltic and Sweden. Each of the Verona train sets has been lengthened by two waggons to increase the capacity on offer.
The handling of paper and high-value paper board from northern Sweden has begun in the Ostuferhafen. For a little while now, SCA ships have been tying up at Berth 1 once a week to deliver part loads. This test phase will last until summer, before the delivery of full loads for regular handling begins. In preparation for the project, two 10,000 m² warehouses located immediately adjacent to Berth 1 were converted as early as autumn 2015. New roofs were installed on the existing Sheds 1 and 2 where flooring was also laid which is specially designed for the storage of paper products. Skilled personnel are also being hired and new equipment acquired to organise handling and operations in the warehouses. In addition, a further 18,000 m² warehouse, Shed 10, is now being built on the Ostuferhafen’s expansion area. The hall’s first sleeve foundations, on which the reinforced concrete structure will rest, were built in December.