Hamburg levels still subdued

In the first half of 2009, the Port of Hamburg handled a total of 54.2m tonnes of seagoing cargo, a drop of 23.7% compared with the same period in the previous year.

A sharp 28.7% decline in container throughput to 3.6m teu in the first half of 2009 was acutely felt. With China the leading trade partner for the Port of Hamburg, a 25.1% drop in its Asian trade to 2.1m teu had a huge impact on these figures.

Claudia Roller, Port of Hamburg Marketing chairperson, commented: “Despite the negative results, the cargo volumes in the first half of 2009 give us reason to be optimistic, since our assessment is that we have hit bottom and cargo handling in the seaport has become generally stable.”