With a total volume of approx. 675,000 standard containers (TEU) handled between Hamburg and the Russian ports, the volume of container traffic was up by a further 13.3 per cent in 2012, consolidating the lead in foreign trade with Europe and overseas via Hamburg. This positive trend is also attributable to Russia’s decision to join the WTO, resulting in associated simplifications in commercial law as well as the dismantling of trade barriers.
“We’re particularly pleased that Hamburg managed to raise its share of container traffic in St Petersburg to 25.3 per cent last year. That’s 1.6 percentage points more than in 2011, which indicates enlarged market share within the North Range ports for this route,” emphasises Axel Mattern, executive board member of Port of Hamburg Marketing. Just under 95 per cent of the total direct traffic between Russia and Hamburg are handled via the seaport of St Petersburg, Russia’s so-called “Window to Europe”. This Russian Baltic Sea port itself handled roughly 2.53 million TEU in 2012, equivalent to an increase by 6.7 per cent year-on-year. Alongside St Petersburg, the Russian Baltic Sea ports of Kaliningrad and Ust-Luga as well as Archangelsk und Murmansk on the Arctic Ocean are called at by ships sailing from Hamburg.
The most important commodities exported from Russia in seaborne container traffic via Hamburg include hard coal, Diesel oil, crude oil, paper, copper and chemical substances. Imports to Russia predominantly comprise meat, motor vehicles, fruit preserves, electrical appliances and paper. Russia is also one of the key trading partners of the Hanseatic port in conventional general cargo handling, e.g. for iron, steel and other metals, as well as machinery.
In particular, Russian customers appreciate the high quality standards in Germany’s biggest universal port and the immense density of over 150 weekly feeder sailings to the Baltic Sea region as well as the numerous overseas liner services connecting Hamburg with virtually every port in the world. In order to extend and reinforce contacts with Russian and international transport sectors, the Port of Hamburg will be present at the TransRussia trade fair in Moscow from 23 – 26 April 2013. “This means that we will already be represented with a joint stand at Russia’s premier transport trade fair for the fourteenth time,” emphasises Natalia Kapkajewa, Head of the Port of Hamburg Marketing Representative Office in St Petersburg. “The growing number of co-exhibitors and the repeated attendance of Port of Hamburg Marketing member company representatives who have been travelling to Moscow for many years now exemplify the importance of Russia in foreign trade for Hamburg as a logistics and industry location,” adds Kapkajewa. Under the shared “Port of Hamburg” umbrella, the following companies are exhibiting on the 99 m² trade fair stand in the German Pavilion in 2013: Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, Buss Port Logistics GmbH & Co. KG, Delta Shipping Agency GmbH, Hafen Hamburg Marketing e.V., Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, HWF Hamburgische Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftsförderung mbH, Maritime Cargo Logistics GmbH, Polzug Intermodal GmbH, Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG, Swan Container Line GmbH & Co. KG und Team Lines Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG. The Port of Hamburg trade fair stand A313 is located in Hall A.
Furthermore, in the first half of 2013 Port of Hamburg Marketing and its member companies from Hamburg and the region will be advertising for the efficiency and performance of Germany’s biggest universal port and its partner ports at additional international trade fairs in Shanghai, São Paulo, Antwerp and Munich.