And although improvements are in sight this year, port-related industries anticipate a moderate level of growth.
Hamburg
2009 was a year impacted by the global economic and financial markets crisis and Germany’s largest universal port, the Port of Hamburg fell short of the previous year’s result by around 30 million tonnes. Last year, the port handled 110 million tonnes of sea-borne cargo – down 21.4% compared to 2008. “With a total trans-shipment volume of 110.4 million tonnes in what was a difficult year for the entire port related industries and shipping sector, we recorded an exceptionally severe decline in the history of our port to date,” said Claudia Roller, Chairwoman of Port of Hamburg Marketing Association. “However, since the third quarter of 2009, we have seen initial signs of a stabilising trend, and we are now witnessing a slight upward trend again,” said Roller. “An evaluation of the figures for sea-borne cargo handling in the fourth quarter of 2009 showed that in the second half of the year, trans-shipments of sea-borne cargo picked up by 3.7% compared with the first half of the year. The negative trend has bottomed out, and the Port of Hamburg is once again heading for moderate growth. We take the view that Germany’s export-intensive economy will benefit from the growth in global trade as early as 2010,” said Roller. Jens Meier, Managing Director of the Hamburg Port Authority, added to this that “the foundations for a successful future for the Port of Hamburg must be laid right now.” Meier referred to the new Port Development Plan currently being drawn up by the HPA. The new Plan is being conceived in circumstances that are quite different from those in the past; as a result, global trends are also being taken into account in developing the new strategy for the port. Another factor is the increase in value added by attracting sustainable, viable port-related industries in a targeted fashion. The evaluation of this study, a companion document to the Port Development Plan, will be carried out in the coming months. Despite the financial meltdown and the effect it had on the port, Hamburg‘s State Minister of Economic and Labour Affairs, Senator Axel Gedaschko, emphasised that port investments will not be shortened and that the City of Hamburg will come up with about one billion euros. The efforts initiated by authorities together with port-related industries to increase the competitiveness of the Port of Hamburg have already led to positive results. Those who are responsible for upgrading the fairway in the Outer and Lower Elbe agreed on a schedule and the Senator is expecting a final resolution in autumn 2010. Gedaschko did exclude any cooperation for Hamburg with the container port of Wilhelmshaven [JadeWeser Port project] that is currently being built. In the first quarter of this year, the port of Hamburg has seen total cargo handling figures of 28.6 million tonnes – up 4.6% compared to the same period in 2009. Import of cargo was up 6% to 16.7 million tonnes and exports hit 11.9 million tonnes (up 2.7%). General cargo handling grew by 1.1% to a total of 18.6 million tonnes with bulk traffic contributing the lion’s share of the growth with 9.9 million tonnes (up 11.9%). Unfortunately, container throughput figures remained disappointing with a total of 1.8 million TEU handled in the first quarter – down 4% compared to the same period in 2009. On a positive note, some of the liner services to China and Asia that were suspended during the financial and economic crisis have gradually been resuming operations since April this year, and this will contribute to growth in the container handling segment in Hamburg. In the first quarter of 2010, container trans-shipments with the Asian regions totaled 1.1 million TEU, just short of the previous year’s result (minus 2.1%).
Bremerhaven
The Port of Bremerhaven [combining the twin ports of Bremerhaven and Bremen] is Europe’s fourth largest container port after Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp. Despite the global financial and economic crisis it is optimistic about 2010 as at the end of last year it saw growth in its container sector – handling 400,000 TEU up from 378,000 TEU in the same month of 2008. Containers have been the driver of growth in Bremerhaven for many years, with more than 99% of the boxes handled along the River Weser loaded or unloaded at the Bremerhaven container terminal – the world’s longest container quay. But Bremerhaven didn’t escape the downturn in container traffic either in 2009 as it handled 4,535,842 TEU – down 17.5% compared to 2008 when it handled 5,500,709 TEU. Within the port, two shipping lines, Maersk Line and MSC, run dedicated terminals in joint ventures with Eurogate. CT4 is operated by North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven (NTB), a 50/50 joint venture between Eurogate and APM Terminals. Eurogate also has a joint venture agreement with MSC, namely MSC Gate Bremerhaven, which handles MSC vessels exclusively and is located on the southern extension (CT1) of Bremerhaven Container Terminal with an annual container capacity of 1.5 million TEU. Bremerhaven’s potential for future expansion has been exhausted and operators are looking at other projects including the JadeWeser terminal – hence the delight of Eurogate’s management when it was awarded the 40-year concession to operate the deep-sea container terminal in Wilhelmshaven.
Rostock
2009 proved to be a more difficult year for Rostock, coming off the back of 2008’s record results. A total cargo throughput volume of 23 million tonnes was recorded in 2009 for all Rostock ports, down 5.6 million tonnes. The Rostock Seaport accounted for 21.5 million tonnes of this result. An additional 1.5 million tonnes were moved through the cargo and fishery port, chemicals port, and additional port facilities. With a total gross cargo throughput volume of 21.5 million tonnes, the Rostock Seaport ended 2009 with 20% less cargo than in 2008. “Looking at the cargo throughput of the last 12 months, it was evident that the year started badly, and despite great efforts by the cargo handling companies at the port, this level could not be significantly improved,” said Ulrich Bauermeister, Managing Director of Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock mbH. In the dry bulk segment, a slightly smaller decrease of 9% to 5.4 million tonne
s was recorded. The greatest decrease was recorded in the general cargo segment, down 35% to 411,000 tonnes. Despite the downward trend in cargo throughput, Rostock stuck steadfastly to its expansion and maintenance projects as planned, investing Euro 24.5 million in port infrastructure in 2009. The new building of berths 35 and 36 were completed in 2009, making a total investment of Euro 13 million since 2007. Additional projects in 2009 included construction at berths 37 and 25 as well as the development of additional areas of the port grounds. An area of 5 hectares in the southern port grounds was developed for construction in 2009 with earmarked investment of Euro 1.6 million. Additional investment projects in 2009 included Euro 2 million for a new control unit building for a coal power plant; the demolition of the “Fingerpier” in Warnemünde costing around Euro 1 million and the modification of the pier at berth 53 for a new ferry service at around Euro 1 million. For 2010, Rostock is planning a total investment volume of Euro 35 million with the northern expansion of Pier III accounting for the bulk of the budget (Euro 20 million). Construction of this new 12-hectare area commenced in March with the setting of sheet pile walls and filling in of land and is planned to continue until 2012. By 2011, almost Euro 1.7 million will be invested for the land-side reception of ship’s waste water at the cruise ship berths. Additionally, the planning of the construction of a new ferry pier at berths 65 and 67 as well as for the connection of the eastern port grounds to the motorway will be undertaken.
Kiel
The Port of Kiel is reporting to be back on track with a total of 1.27 million tonnes of cargo handled in the first three months of this year – an increase of 13% over the same period of 2009. “After last year’s weak first quarter the trend is upwards again in the Port of Kiel. March was one of the best months ever in the history of the Port of Kiel with 514,000 tonnes handled. The handling figures are also an increase on those of 2008. Of particular note were developments on the Kiel-Klaipeda service,” said Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel. Figures for ferry traffic with Scandinavia in the first quarter of this year are also above those for last year. Very encouraging is handling growth of 38% at the Ostuferhafen. The introduction of “Lisco Maxima”, the biggest and most modern RoPax ferry under the Lithuanian flag, has been mainly responsible for that increase. Kiel was also able to more than double container handling – in the first quarter it handled a total of 5,040 TEU, compared to 2,342 TEU in the corresponding period of last year. Bulk cargo handling also showed a positive development in the first quarter with increases in building materials imports, oil products and coal contributing to an 18.13% increase over the same period of 2009.
Duisport
In 2009, the global economic crisis has had a major influence on bulk throughput at the inland container port of Duisburg, Germany. It saw a substantial cut in coal, iron and steel cargo traffic but the port almost maintained its 2009 container throughput level of 1.89 million TEU by handling a total of 1.82 million TEU.
According to Erich Staake, CEO at Duisburger Hafen AG, the port benefitted from investments in recent years intended to develop intelligent transportation networks and to strengthen the logistic hub. “New railroad services such as Glückauf-Express across the Ruhr region and the logport II gateway strategy have enabled us to generate cargo throughput even during the period of an economic slump,” said Staake. As a result consolidated revenues were up to Euro 145 million (including organisations in which strategic investments are held), the duisport Group surpassed its record sales of Euros 139 million in 2008 by 4.6%. “Our recent strategy of consistently strengthening and widening our operations was the key to success in a difficult economic environment,” said Staake. “We also benefited from the early action we took to address the crisis. We adjusted, improved and optimised our cost structure and above all our processes and procedures.”
Sassnitz
Despite the downturn, 2009 was a successful year for the Port of Sassnitz boasting 19 cruise ships calling at the port carrying around 26,000 passengers from all over the world. During 2010 the Port of Sassnitz is planning to invest in the navigation channel and port infrastructure. Berth extension works will be carried out and handling areas will be enlarged. As a result of these expansion works the overall length of pier 8 and 9 will increase to 365m enabling the port to be well prepared for the trans-shipment of pipes for the Nord Stream Project. Moreover the berth enlargement will improve the port capacities in the increasingly important field of offshore wind energy. Within a distance of 54 nautical miles 16 wind farms are planned totalling a potential capacity of 5.000 MW. Finally, the berth enlargement will improve opportunities in the container business. During 2009, handling performance in bulk and general cargo throughout the port declined by 37% compared to 2008.
Wilhelmshaven
Already delayed by three months to February 2012 the JadeWeser deepwater container terminal at Wilhelmshaven is at the centre of intense negotiations as both Eurogate and APM Terminals warn of overcapacity in the region if the scheduled new opening date is met. The new Euro 1billion terminal with an annual container capacity of 3 million TEU is “pushed along” by the state of Lower Saxony, which financed a major part of the construction costs, to hit the scheduled opening date. But both operators, Eurogate and APM Terminals, hit by the global downturn in container traffic are seeking to delay the opening date for the JadeWeser terminal to somewhere in 2012. Both operators fear that the opening will cause overcapacity in the region and would affect their own facilities in Bremerhaven – around 30km away. Eurogate has agreements with various shipping lines to move cargo to the JadeWese
r terminal but is concerned that they [the shipping lines] will be unable to meet their commitments due to the downturn in container traffic. Another concern is the threshold to make the terminal viable. “You need a turnover volume of almost 1 million TEU to start at all,” said Emmanuel Schiffer, President Eurogate. If the dates are not being pushed back Eurogate will be solely dependent on traffic from Maersk Line by shifting some of their throughput to Wilhelmshaven from Bremerhaven, but Maersk has already indicated that it is seeking compensation for this shift. But it is not all bad news things are looking up for Eurogate as container throughput figures see an upward trend. In the first quarter of 2010, the company saw container throughput at their German terminals increase by 3.3% – compared to the same period in 2009. And although figures for Hamburg, where it operates a terminal, were down by 11.3% in Bremerhaven it saw a growth of 12.2% to 1.1 million TEU compared to the first quarter of 2009. In 2009, Eurogate saw container throughput decline at its German operations by 18.5% to 6.7 million TEU compared to 2008.