Hamburg boosted first quarter container traffic 18.2 percent from a year ago, regaining market share from its slower growing rivals Antwerp and Rotterdam.
Germany’s largest port said the increase, to 2.1 million 20-foot-equivalent units, was driven by a strong recovery in Asia-Europe shipments and a rally in Baltic feeder traffic.
Hamburg fell just 70,000 TEUs short of reclaiming its position as Europe’s second largest container port from Antwerp, which increased first quarter traffic by 7.9 percent to a record 2.17 million TEUs
Hamburg, overtaken by Antwerp two years ago, also closed the gap on Rotterdam, which expanded traffic in the period by 10.1 percent to 2.9 million TEUs.
Total cargo throughput reached 31.4 million metric tons, up 9.8 percent on the first three months of 2010.
Traffic on Asian routes, led by China, jumped 15.7 percent to 1.3 million TEUs to account for 56 percent of the growth in overall container volume.
The Baltic region booked even higher growth rates. Feeder traffic to and from Russia grew 35.6 percent to 121,000 TEUs, Finnish traffic was up 49.3 percent to 82,000 TEUs and Polish routes grew 26.9 percent to 55,000 TEUs.
Conventional general cargo slipped 4.6 percent year-on-year to 562,000 tons as higher vehicle exports and imports failed to compensate for an 18.6 percent slump in citrus fruit imports.
Claudia Roller, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, said total traffic likely will grow around 10 percent in 2011 even if German economic growth slows in the second quarter.
The Journal of Commerce Online
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