Containers lead strong Q1 growth at Port of Hamburg

The thrust of the port's growth came from 2.4m teu in container throughput, an 8% increase on the first quarter 2013, with similar growth in both import and export volumes.

For Hamburg's narrow slice of general cargoes besides containers, around 2% of total general cargo, a 5.9% improvement to 461,000 t reversed declines over the past couple of years.

Throughput of bulk cargoes was up 3.5% in the quarter to a total of 10.4m t, with a mixed performance across Hamburg's three segments. Suction goods recorded the highest growth at 24.2% to 2.2m t on the back of strong grain imports and exports. Bulk liquids throughput was up 4.2% to 3.5m t, while grab cargoes fell 4.4% to 4.7m t.

"In the first quarter of 2014 we in the Port of Hamburg succeeded in maintaining the previous year's positive growth trend. Our outstanding growth rate of 8.6% enabled us to further extend our very sound competitive position in comparison to Northern Europe's other major seaports." said Axel Mattern, ceo of Port of Hamburg Marketing.