Seaborne cargoes between January and September of 2013 amounted to 103.9m tons, up from 98.1m tons for the same period of 2013. Meanwhile, ports across Northern Europe reported nine-month growth averages of 0.7% and average decreases of 1% in container handling, Hamburg claims.
The improvement was driven by an 8.9% YTD increase in bulk cargoes, to 31.4m tons; general cargo increased 4.8% to 72.5m tons; and container throughput was up 3.6% to approximately 7m teu.
Exports grew ahead of imports, with a gain of 7.2%, to 45.8m, compared to 5% at 58.1m tons, respectively.
Hamburg credited Baltic feeder trades, strengthened by renewed growth in East Asian trade, for improvement in container volumes, with transhipment cargo making up 2.9m teu in the first nine months of 2013 – 42% of total container throughput.
Seasonal trends were also positive, demonstrating seaborne cargo growth of 11% between the second and third quarters.
“Hamburg further extended its position as Northern Europe’s Hub Port, and we are gratified that both general cargo and bulk cargo handling should have contributed to the excellent performance in the first three quarters of 2013,” said Port of Hamburg Marketing’s ceo Axel Mattern.
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