Hamburg threat to Rotterdam

The improvements to the Park are complemented by the delivery of four Kalmar empty-handlers Thamesport is now able to stack empty containers up to seven high, which would not have been possible on the old surface.

Hamburg’s economics senator Gunnar Uldall reported a 14.8% growth in containers handled – which would mean about 6.1m TEUs compared with the 5.3m TEUs handled in 2002 – itself a rise of 14.6%. Hamburg has been growing faster in the sector than Rotterdam for some years and officials said the German port, which has the capacity to handle up to 13-14 million TEUs a year, would catch up with the Dutch facility inside a few years if current growth continued.

Hamburg also set another record in 2003, passing a 100m tonne mark in general handling that narrowly eluded it last year. That’s still a long way behind Rotterdam’s 328m tonnes. Officials said Hamburg’s strategic focus on Baltic and Asian markets had been responsible for much of the increase in container and general business.