With economists and research institutes forecasting growth in world trade for the coming year and the IMF and OECD assuming that world trade will grow by between 7 and 8% in 2011, it seems that German ports are optimistic about the future and it shows. Undisrupted expansion and recovery of the world economy, resulting in a continuation of the upward trend in the German economy is to be anticipated for the years ahead, with growth rates of 2.0% and 1.5% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Against this background, Christoph Ahlhaus, First Mayor of the Port of Hamburg stated after hearing the 2010 results: “Our city’s economic performance – its gross domestic product – (that it) should have reached its pre-crisis level is a great achievement envied by many. We have every reason to approach the challenges that lie ahead of us with optimism.” Some of these challenges were to entice shipping lines to come to Hamburg despite the difficult times of the past couple of years explained Ahlhaus. “The efforts made to attract more ship traffic back to Hamburg have paid off. Backed by all players in the port, the trans-shipment incentive system met with very good acceptance and was in part utilised to the maximum limit. This has contributed to the post-crisis return of the feeder services to Hamburg,” said Jens Meier, Managing Director of Hamburg Port Authority. So, all in all, it seems that German ports have weathered the economic crisis very well and are focusing on the future. Our port survey brings you the latest facts and figures.
Port of Hamburg
Last year, the Port of Hamburg returned to its growth course with total throughput of 121 million tonnes. The upshot was a distinct growth compared to the crisis year 2009 in both general and bulk cargo throughput. In 2010, 7.9 million TEU passed through the port of Hamburg, reflecting a 12.7% increase in container throughput compared to the year before. “On both general and bulk cargoes, we are delighted at the gratifying result on throughput. With 121 million tonnes of seaborne cargoes handled, in 2010 the total for the Port of Hamburg was around 11 million tonnes up on 2009,” explained Claudia Roller, Chief Executive Officer of Hafen Port of Hamburg Marketing. “In Hamburg too, in 2009 the worldwide economic and financial crisis led to a steep downturn in seaborne cargo throughput. In 2010 we are not yet again up to the volumes handled that we should like to have. Despite the satisfactory process of catching up in the course of the second half of 2010, we did not quite reach the previous year’s level. The available national economic data cause us to reckon on being able to resume the record figures of 2008 again during the first half of 2012.” In 2010, the Port of Hamburg – as a virtual hub for Asia and China trade routes with Northern Europe and the Baltic states, was already able to profit from this positive trend and can reckon on overall growth of very nearly 10% for 2011,” said Roller. On the import side throughput of 70.4 million tonnes (an increase of 13.2%) was recorded. While exports via Hamburg stood at 50.8 million tonnes (an increase of 5.4%). Dominating the cargo flows, general cargo throughput stood at 80.9 million tonnes – an increase of 9.9%. Bulk cargo throughput reached 40.3 million tonnes and was up by 9.5%.
Duisburg Port
At the end of last year, Duisburger Hafen AG reached a positive conclusion to 2010. Container throughput at the port, which had been able to maintain its high level even in the crisis year 2009, reached a new record level. Total cargo handling, which declined due to heavy losses in the coal, iron and steel sector in particular, recovered remarkably and has already reached the 2008 pre-crisis level. Container handling on the three modes of transport, ship, train and truck, rose to about 2.25 million TEU, equivalent to an increase of around 25% compared with the previous year. At nearly 28 million tonnes, total handling on the ship and train sector almost reached record level to that of 2008 (a total of 28.3 million tonnes) and compensated for the decline of 2009. “The excellent results in container handling show that we are on the right road at the Duisburg location. This strengthens us in our intention to develop our capacity in order to direct growing flows of goods through Duisburg,” said Erich Staake, Chief Executive Officer of Duisburger Hafen AG. Coal handling was largely able to compensate for the strong declines last year while the recovery in steel handling remained well below the pre-crisis level. However, the development in mineral oils and chemical products has been very pleasing. “After having been able to keep the high pre-crisis period level in these groups of goods last year, we expect double digit growth rates in this segment in the year just ended“, added Staake. Like any other successful international terminal operator, the port of Duisburg has the ambition to spread its wings in the international ports’ arena. To achieve this it signed a joint-venture with German construction firm Hochtief towards the end of 2010. The joint-venture would develop ports and terminals around the globe, with projects in Europe and South America already in the pipeline. The focus would remain on managing, operating and marketing the ports and terminals, while Hochtief would supplement this by planning, developing and construction activities. With a wide range of technical and logistics expertise Duisport will also be able to integrate certain projects into its existing logistics network. “By founding this company, Duisport will be in a position to further develop and permanently establish our already-implemented steps to internationalisation in a target-oriented manner,” said Staake. Towards the end of January, Duisport announced that it would abandon its plans to develop a new container terminal at the Homberger Rheinpreussen port. The reason to [unfortunately] terminate the project was due to an uncertain economic outlook and the slow recovery of container throughput in the region. The project was funded by the Federal Government through a stimulus package with a completion date of the second half of 2011. More recently, Duisburger Hafen AG and the Brazilian ports ministry signed an agreement in Berlin to support the government in drafting a logistics concept for the so-called Sao Paulo-Santos corridor. The corridor is the main artery for Brazilian flows of goods between the coast and the hinterland. “The assumption of overall coordination to draft a logistics concept in Brazil by the duisport Group is opening up numerous possibilities for German industry to participate in implementing the infrastructure measures,” said Staake. “We want to act as a pathfinder for home industry when it comes to issuing orders in the next step.” Duisport continues to be of interest to third parties. Located at the centre of Europe’s inland waterways, the port is considered to be the ‘jewel in the crown’ and both Rotterdam and Antwerp port have made no secret of their interest in buying the 33% stake in Duisburg, currently held by the German federal government. But with the joint-venture with Hochtief there might a third contender in the race to purchasing this stake, should it come on the market.
Port of Kiel
Kiel handled 5.8 million tonnes of cargo last year, the best result ever recorded by the port. This was a 19.3 % increase over the previous year and considerably more than the 5.3 million tonnes handled in 2007. Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port commented: “We posted record handling in 2010 and are well on course for further growth this year as well. All the indications are that we will handle more than 6 million tonnes in 2011.” Ferry services from Kiel carried well over 30% more cargo in 2010 and together increased their transport volume by more than 1 million tonnes. DFDS Seaways was the largest cargo carrier in 2010 on the Kiel-Klaipeda service – increasing overall cargo to more than two million tonnes, while the Stena Line service between Kiel and Gothenburg recorded an increase of 55% on cargo flows. “Thanks to our partners we have been able to win additional market shares not only on Scandinavian routes, but also on Russia and Baltic service markets,” said Claus. Seehafen Kiel, with the support of the Federal German state of Schleswig-Holstein, invested EUR 30 million in a new terminal building at the Schwedenkai and in berthing facilities and handling logistics, with the aim of guaranteeing the swift and safe handling of a new generation of Stena Line ships on the Kiel-Gothenburg route. The Ostuferhafen was once again the Port of Kiel’s biggest cargo handling facility in 2010, turning over more than 3 million tonnes for the first time ever. DFDS Seaways currently offers seven departures per week and direction to and from the Baltic and Russia using three modern ferry ships. Against the background of growing cargo volumes, the Port of Kiel is planning medium-term expansion of the Ostuferhafen’s operational area. An application for planning permission at the adjacent Ortopedia site is being prepared. In the passenger handling sector, Kiel is posting another top result with just about two million passengers handled overall. The number of ferry passengers rose by 4.1% to 1.55 million. By far the most passengers, more than a million, were carried on the Kiel-Oslo route. This was the best result in Color Line’s 50 year history of liner services to and from Kiel.
Rostock Seaport
With 23.7 million tonnes (gross) of goods handled last year, the companies at Rostock seaport recorded a 10% increase against 2009. “Things are gradually looking up after the slump of 2009, although we are still quite a bit away from the level of 2008,” says Ulrich Bauermeister, Managing Director of Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock mbH. Dry bulk achieved an annual result of 6 million tonnes, which corresponds to an 11% increase compared to 2009. ‘In the coming years we will focus on stabilising the cargo handling particularly of these two main cargo types on a high level and to further increase amounts after the deepening of the navigational channel,’ says Bauermeister. General cargo witnessed a decline of 11%: 365,000 tonnes were recorded until the end of 2010. ‘Judging by the potential of Rostock port that is an unsatisfactory result,’ Bauermeister commented. On the upside there were again increases in wheeled cargo of ferry and Ro-ro goods with 12.7 million tonnes being handled last year compared to 11.8 million tonnes in 2009. The number of passengers carried on the lines to Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Poland decreased by just under 40,000 to 2.06 million passengers. While the Rostock-Trelleborg route was able to record slight increases, passenger numbers from and to Denmark and Finland decreased slightly. Rostock invested around EUR 38 million in port infrastructure last year and for the coming year it is planning to invest around EUR 50 million. Of this EUR 15 million is slated for the northern extension of pier III. The embankment was already built in 2010 and the land filling has begun. The building work is to be completed in 2012. In line with this the new berth 15 will be built at the eastern side of pier III from January 2011 at a cost of approximately EUR 6 million. Before 2012 around EUR 1.7 million will be invested in reception facilities for ships’ sewage at the cruise liner berths. Also, planning work will be started for the construction of new landing stages for ferries at berths 65 and 67 and for a motorway connection to the eastern part of the port. The necessary applications for permits were filed in 2010. This year, Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock mbH will begin the complex project of re-arranging the entire ferry terminal. The project starts with the new construction of the ferry landing stage at berth 54. By stages, the new ferry centre, the new roofed clearance line and additional areas with optimised traffic routing will be built. The conversion of the ferry terminal will be accompanied by demolition and replacement measures. Both the old clearance buildings as well as quay hall 8 on pier I will be pulled down and replaced. Around Euro 25 million will be spent on this alone in 2011.
Controversy over JadeWeser Port
The construction of the deepwater terminal JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven has continued apace and is on schedule to open mid-2012 with the first 1km of quay. But the country’s most ambitious port project has not even been opened or completed and it is already creating controversary for neighbouring port of Hamburg and Bremerhaven. Access to both ports is limited by the depth of the rivers Elbe and Weser and the deepening of the Elbe is currently subject to an approval procedure, and the project has met resistance from Hamburg’s neighbouring states such as Lower Saxony. Although Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said that he expected dredging would start from the end of 2011, there has been no final decision yet. And this decision can potentially take much longer than expected as the dredging works to deepening the Elbe and the Weser have been questioned by the environmental lobby organisation Bund, in fact it has announced that it will file a lawsuit against the planned deepening of the Weser. It argues that with the opening of the new Wilhelmshaven terminal [that doesn’t need dredging] deepening the Weser is not justified. On another note, management of both ports were amazed that last July, Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a meeting with Cosco’s Capt Wei Jiafu – who pressed for a fast deepening of the river Elbe – pointed to Wilhelmshaven as a potential alternative. Putting all these problems aside, there is the issue of overcapacity. The JadeWeser terminal was planned at a time when there was a lack of capacity – both at Hamburg and Bremerhaven. Now, with lots of capacity reserves in the ports, the question is whether there is actually enough container traffic for all three ports.