The Port of Hamburg, Germany's largest container port, has reported that the volume of seaborne cargo handled fell to 54.2m tonnes during the first half of the year, a year-on-year drop of 23.7 per cent.
Port of Hamburg Marketing revealed that 30m tonnes of imported cargo was handled during the first six months of 2009, a drop of 26.5 per cent on the previous year, with exports hit less hard with a total volume handled of 24.2m tonnes, down 19.9 per cent.
General cargo fell sharply, down 27.8 per cent to 37m tonnes, with the group handling 3.6m TEU (20ft standard containers) in the first-half, down 28.7 per cent.
China remained the Port's leading trade partner, despite Asian trade falling 'well below' levels reached last year, according to the Port Authority. Containers transported to and from Asia fell 25.1 per cent to 2.1m TEU, although there was positive news elsewhere as container transport to West Africa jumped 7.5 per cent to 27,000 TEU.
Claudia Roller, chairperson of the Port of Hamburg Marketing Authority, said that comparisons between the first half of 2009 and the same period last year were disproportionate due to the economic crisis that gripped the globe in the second half of 2008.
'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,' she said. 'We are expecting a positive trend in seaborne cargo volumes in the second half of the year.
According to the monthly data that we have, we can see there has been a small gain in container transport since the month of April and up through June and that the downsizing has been stopped,' Ms Roller added. 'We have also been receiving positive signals from representatives of industry and trade as well as from leading managers in the transport and shipping businesses at our port and trade fair events at home and abroad.'
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