May 25, 2017: The Port of Hamburg reported an increase of 1.7 percent in its total throughput at 35.4 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2017. Contributing to the Hamburg total, bulk cargo throughput was 6.7 percent higher at 12.2 million tonnes, and general cargo handling at 23.1 million tonnes, 0.7 percent lower, said the port in a release. In the former segment, the 12-million-tonne mark was exceeded for the first time, and the best quarterly figure was achieved since records began. On the export side, general cargo throughput at 11.9 million tonnes represented growth of 3.4 percent. At 11.2 million tonnes, general cargo imports were somewhat lower, being down by 4.7 percent. First-quarter container throughput at 2.2 million TEU was 0.7 percent lower than in the comparable period of the previous year.
At 1.9 million TEU, Hamburg’s total seaborne loaded-container throughput for the first quarter of 2017 gratifyingly rose by 0.04 percent. Throughput of empty containers dropped by 4.9 percent to 307,000 TEU. “Despite the persisting non-implementation of the dredging of the fairway of the Lower and Outer Elbe, cargo still finds its way via Hamburg. We find that while the number of loaded containers has risen slightly, handling of empty containers has declined. By contrast with the globally coordinated transport chains for boxes stuffed with import or export cargoes, empty containers are less linked to specific ports and routing is therefore more volatile,” explained Ingo Egloff, joint CEO, Port of Hamburg Marketing.