The Port of Hamburg remained on a growth curve in the first quarter of 2012

Compared to the main ports further West, Hamburg thus gained additional market share and strengthened its position as the Northern European hub for container traffic; Rotterdam’s throughput was down by 3.9 percent, while Antwerp’s increase was comparatively minimal at 0.7 percent. In the first quarter of 2012 total seaborne cargo throughput in Germany’s largest universal port reached a volume of 32.6 million tons (+ 3.8 percent). The Port of Hamburg performed especially strongly on general cargo throughput and managed a positive result on overall throughput despite some downturns in the bulk goods area. By comparison with the first quarter of 2011, on general cargo throughput the Port of Hamburg achieved a 7.9 percent advance to 23.1 million tons. Growth here was primarily powered by the strong trend in exports of containerized general cargoes. Here the Port of Hamburg handled export volume of 11.4 million tons in the first three months of the year, representing an increase of 11.1 percent. Europe’s second largest container port also performed well on imports of containerized general cargoes, with volume of 11.2 million tons representing 5.5 percent growth. “We are delighted that with a 5.2 percent rise in container throughput in the first quarter, the Port of Hamburg is markedly ahead of the 2.4 percent average growth for the four major ports in the North Range,” comments Claudia Roller, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing: “The excellent result in this segment is what triggered the Port of Hamburg’s overall growth in the first quarter of 2012. For the remainder of the year we are reckoning on a further increase in total throughput.””We are headed in the right direction and have gained notable market shares. This is indicative for competitiveness of the Port of Hamburg”, stresses Jens Meier, HPA managing director. “Considering container handling figures and the market shares inthe northern European Ports range the Port of Hamburg even surpasses forecasts of the 2010 ISL potential analysis.”