The amounts of cargo at the seaport and the other port facilities of Rostock are thus exactly on the level of the previous year. The number of ferry passengers carried to and from Northern Europe declined by 14,000 to 850,000 between January and June 2011 compared to the same period last year.
Of the 11.1 million tonnes of goods handled at the seaport, 6.6 million tonnes came from the wheeled cargo of ferry and ro-ro traffic. There was an increase by 400,000 tonnes or six percent in this segment compared to last year. Thus the share of ferry and ro-ro goods in the overall handling by the all-purpose port of Rostock was 59 percent. 41 percent or 4.5 million tonnes were achieved with the handling of dry and liquid bulk as well as general cargo, which means a decrease by 400,000 tonnes or eight percent compared to the first half of 2010. ‘Unfortunately the increase in amounts handled through ferries and ro-ro was eaten up by a markedly lower handling of bulk cargo and especially of liquid goods so that the overall result at Rostock seaport for the first six months remains on the level of 2010’, states Ulrich Bauermeister, managing director of the port development company. ‘In addition the tumultuous weather conditions of this year lead to expect a moderate grain harvest in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and thus also a rather mediocre handling trend for this cargo type which is so important for us.’
3,734 ferry, ro-ro, cargo and cruise vessels called at Rostock Seaport in the first half of 2011, of which 2,559 were ferries. 166,848 trucks (escorted units) were carried on the five ferry and three ro-ro links to and from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the UK and Poland, an increase by seven percent. Handling of unescorted units (trailers) also went up again. 57,435 trailers were loaded and unloaded, an increase by 17 percent compared to the first half of 2010.
The number of load units handled at the intermodal transport terminal increased from 34,517 to 38,304 (plus eleven percent). The tonnage increased from 630,345 to 784,833 (plus 25 percent). There are 26 weekly intermodal transport trains running to and from Verona (13), Basel (5), Duisburg/Hamburg (6) and Wels (2).
At 1.4 million tonnes, the handling of liquid goods during the first six months of 2011 dims the half-yearly figures of the seaport. 400,000 tonnes less of liquid goods were pumped across the quayside. Not a single crude oil tanker called at the port of Rostock and handling of fuel oil was also on the decline. The increases in naphtha and rapeseed oil were not enough to compensate for those decreases.
The good result achieved in dry bulk goods last year was repeated at 2.9 million tonnes. The handling of grain (brewer’s barley, barley, malt, rye, wheat and other grain) was 190,000 tonnes below the first six months of 2010 at 1.2 million tonnes (wheat minus 540,000 tonnes) barley plus 365,000 tonnes). But, then again, the grain handling accounted for 41 percent of all dry bulk movements. Above-average half-year results were achieved in the dry bulk cargo types of split gravel (plus 100,000 tonnes), iron ore (plus 63,000 tonnes), nitrochalk/CAN (plus 30,000 tonnes), urea (plus 30,000 tonnes), gravel (plus 28,000 tonnes) and coal (plus 23,000 tonnes). Apart from the handling of grain, significant losses occurred in anthracite (minus 30,000 tonnes) and rapeseed (minus 20,000 tonnes).
The upward trend in the handling of general cargo continued, albeit from a low level, in the first six months of 2011. An increase by 28 percent to 248,000 tonnes was achieved here. Increasingly sheet metal (plus 62,000 tonnes) and shaped blooms (plus 10,000 tonnes) were trans-shipped at the seaport.