Container throughput increased by 6.4% to 2.3M TEU and the USA became the second largest trading partner in container traffic. Hinterland traffic increased by 8%
Both general cargo throughput at 23.9 Mt (+ 5.4%) and bulk cargo throughput at 10.7 Mt (+ 7.5%) rose substantially in the first three months.
The increase in container traffic is primarily attributable to four liner services new to Hamburg (they transferred from Bremerhaven) and linking it with ports in the USA, Canada and Mexico. A total 121,000 TEU for container transport with the USA represented an almost fourfold jump, catapulting the USA into second place among Hamburg’s top trading partners on container traffic. Twelve liner services now link the Port of Hamburg directly with 29 ports in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
“The four new Transatlantic services run by THE Alliance plus renewed growth in bulk cargo handling are putting the port on a growth path. Hamburg has now become the hub for services with the USA, Mexico and Canada,” said Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.
At around 14.1 Mt, in the general cargo segment German foreign trade with the USA now constitutes the second strongest market after China with around 21.0 Mt.
Of the total of 2.3M TEU handled, hinterland traffic accounted for 1.45M TEU (+ 8%), while feeder traffic, partly on the back of the new North America/Mexico strings, increased by 3.8% to 865,000 TEU.