CIIE: Successful trade fair despite COVID-19

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic in China, interest in the Port of Hamburg and its services remains high. That was evident from 5th-10th November 2020 at the internationally recognized China International Import Export (CIIE) trade fair in Shanghai. "Due to the strict hygiene regulations, there were a little fewer visitors overall, but we still had many interesting discussions with potential customers at our booth," says Pan Hua, Head of the Port of Hamburg Marketing Representative Office in Shanghai, and adds: “The discussions often focused particularly on the hinterland connections as well as diverse services in the Port of Hamburg.”
 
During the six days, over 500 trade visitors came to the joint booth, including Xiao Tiejun, Vice President of Jiangsu CCPIT. The organizer of the fair was also satisfied at the end. With 360,000 square meters of rented space, the exhibition was even able to increase its size by 30,000 square meters. A total of 400,000 trade visitors attended during the six days.
 
The New Silk Road from China to Europe also played a major role in many discussions. “Hamburg plays an important role in this. 230 connections between Hamburg and 20 Chinese destinations are currently being marketed every week,” explains Pan Hua. At the same time, the HHM representative also refers to sea transport: “With around 15 liner services for container shipping at sea, Hamburg is the gateway to Europe for Chinese goods. Every year around 2.6 million TEU are handled annually in Germany's largest seaport in China traffic. Almost every third container that crosses the quay in the Port of Hamburg has its destination or origin in the Middle Kingdom. "
 
The joint booth of Port of Hamburg Marketing (HHM) and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) also presented the latest technologies and projects in the port. Be it the “smartPORT” of the Hamburg Port Authority or the modern drones and trucks from HHLA. The Port of Hamburg also scores with innovative projects such as the “green fleet” when it comes to sustainable hydrogen propulsion.
 
In order to inform even more interested parties at the Port of Hamburg about their own portfolio, HHLA, HHM and the Hamburg Liaison Office China (HLO) organized a webinar on November 6th on the subject “Germany - Transport and logistics hub between China and Europe ". Among other things, HHM, HHLA, Eurogate and DB Cargo presented their services offline and online to a total of 70 participants.