Of this, 10.4 million tonnes were handled at the seaport and 800,000 tonnes at other port facilities in Rostock, such as the chemical port of Yara and the cargo and fishing port. The amounts of cargo at the seaport and the other port facilities of Rostock are thus seven percent below the level of the previous year. The number of ferry passengers carried to and from Northern Europe by contrast increased slightly by 1,000 to 851,000 between January and June 2012 compared to the same period last year.
Of the 10.4 million tonnes of goods handled at the seaport (minus six percent compared to last year) 6.3 million tonnes came from the wheeled cargo of ferry and ro-ro traffic. There was a decrease by 300,000 tonnes or five percent in this segment. The share of ferry and ro-ro goods in the overall handling at the all-purpose port of Rostock amounted to 61 percent in the first six months. 39 percent or 4.1 million tonnes were achieved with the handling of dry and liquid bulk goods and general cargo, which means a decrease by 400,000 tonnes or nine percent compared to the first half of 2011. ‘The sluggish economic trend in the catchment area of the port of Rostock naturally has consequences for the transport flows and thus also for the cargo handling activities. This year the situation is compounded also by special developments such as the loss of freight resulting from the upgrading of the railway line between Rostock and Berlin by Deutsche Bahn’, says Ulrich Bauermeister, managing director of the port development company.
3,622 ferry, ro-ro, cargo and cruise vessels called at Rostock seaport in the first half of 2012, of which 2,647 were ferries. 162,863 trucks (escorted units) were carried on the four ferry and three ro-ro links to and from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland and the UK, a decrease of two percent. Handling of unescorted units (trailers) was also slightly on the decline. 56,431 trailers were loaded and unloaded, also a decrease by two percent compared to the first half of 2011.
There are 30 weekly intermodal transport trains at the intermodal transport terminal, running to and from Verona (12), Basel/Domodossola (5), Duisburg/Hamburg (6), Novara (3), Brno (2) and Wels (2). ‘As a result of the conversion of the containers used, from small load units such as swap bodies to larger load units such as trailers, made by our big customers like Hanggartner, LKW-Walter and Schenker the number of units handled decreased (from 38,304 to 35,833) but the cargo handled, converted to trailer units, increased (from 30,939 to 32,401). In this calculation, two swap bodies equal one trailer unit’, explains Ulrich Bauermeister. ‘We are content with this development, mainly also against the background of current building work at the intermodal transport terminal and the various renovation and maintenance work along railway lines that are significant for us.’
At 1.4 million tonnes, the handling of liquid goods during the first six months of 2012 remains on the low level of the previous year due to the economic situation. Especially naphtha, fuel oil and gas oil were pumped across the quayside.
At 2.5 million tonnes the result achieved in dry bulk goods last year was missed by 400,000 tonnes. The handling of grain (brewer’s barley, barley, malt, rye and wheat) was around 180,000 tonnes below the first half of 2011, totalling 1 million tonnes (barley: minus 200,000 tonnes, wheat plus 63,000 tonnes). Grain handling accounted for 40 percent of all dry bulk goods moved. ‘As a result of the building work along the railway line between Rostock and Berlin we are missing the cement handling this year’, says Ulrich Bauermeister. ‘Thus the missing cement handling tears a hole of 200,000 tonnes more in our dry bulk balance.’ Apart from grain and cement handling, significant losses occurred in iron ore (minus 60,000 tonnes) and coal (minus 50,000 tonnes).
An above-average result for the first six months of the year was achieved in rapeseed handling (plus 70,000 tonnes). ‘For the trend in grain handling during the second half of the year much will depend on the harvest in progress. The market prices are decent. The situation is different for coal and ore, the demand for which is a typical early indicator of the general economic trend. And that doesn’t look rosy at the moment. We do however understand the structural change in energy generation which relies on greater utilization of renewable sources, as an opportunity for Rostock as an industrial site’, says Ulrich Bauermeister.
In general cargo handling a slight increase by two percent was recorded in the first six months of 2012. 252,000 tonnes were hoisted across the ships’ sides. Increasingly, slabs (plus 12,000 tonnes), billets and blooms (plus 8,000 tonnes) and metal pipes (plus 26,000 tonnes) were handled.