Maritime

Lower first-quarter seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg – repercussions of the corona crisis make their mark

Published

3 years ago

May 15, 2020

Hafen Hamburg Marketing - Port of Hamburg

Lower first-quarter seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg – repercussions of the corona crisis make their mark. Image: HHM / Michael Lindner

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Even Germany’s largest universal port is affected by the repercussions of the corona crisis. Seaborne cargo throughput in the first quarter of the year at 31.9 million tons was 7.9 percent down on 2019. Container handling at 2.2 million TEU was 6.6 percent lower. Container hinterland transport services remains comparatively stable, while the drop in demand for transhipment handling was more obvious.

The Port of Hamburg remains fully operational. In the difficult economic conditions caused by the worldwide corona crisis, the port performs an essential function in maintaining reliable supplies of products and raw materials for the economy and the population.

The slackening of import and export flows apparent in Germany’s largest universal port can be explained by the interruption to transport and supply chains caused by the impact of the corona crisis. “The partial shutdown of the Chinese economy, resulting in blank sailings in shipping, has led to lower cargo handling in Hamburg as well,” explained Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.

Lower first-quarter seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg – repercussions of the corona crisis make their mark. Image: HMM

Lower first-quarter seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg – repercussions of the corona crisis make their mark. Image: HMMMattern pointed out that the port with its high-performance cargo handling terminals and inland transport services remains fully operational. He expressed thanks for their dedication at a difficult time to the port’s up to 156,000 directly and indirectly employed staff and the companies in the seaport business, who all ensure smooth cargo handling, day in, day out. “We assume that with its large workforce and well-established enterprises, the Port of Hamburg will successfully surmount this crisis,” said Mattern.

In the container handling segment, in the first quarter of 2020 a total of 2.2 million TEU – 20-ft standard containers – were loaded or discharged across the quay walls of the Port of Hamburg, representing a 6.6 percent downturn on the previous year. Among the Port of Hamburg’s most important partner countries by volume on seaborne container traffic, first-quarter trends varied a great deal.

At 579,400 TEU, the total number of containers handled during the first quarter in the Port of Hamburg for China, its most important trading partner, was 14.6 percent lower. “The downturn in seaborne cargo throughput with China is explicable in connection with the repercussions of the corona crisis,” said Mattern.

Following in second place in the ranking of Hamburg’s container partners, in the first quarter the USA accounted for 146,100 TEU, still reporting 20.7 percent growth. “This strikingly good trend in container services with the USA is attributable to four container services newly started from Hamburg at the beginning of 2019. These made excellent progress and ensured larger throughput volumes, above all with US East Coast ports,” said Mattern.

In third place with 111,000 TEU, Singapore also achieved an advance in the first three months of the year. Growth of 10.5 percent was reported for seaborne container traffic. Axel Mattern surmised that the trend can be explained by the transfer of transhipment services from other Asian countries to Singapore.

In Hamburg, by contrast, the transhipment sector, or container throughput between ocean-going and feeder vessels, was especially affected by the corona crisis with a decline of 10.8 per cent to 772,000 TEU. Seaport-hinterland container services by rail, truck and inland waterway craft proved more stable in the first quarter, volume being just four percent lower at 1.4 million TEU.

Of such significance for the Port of Hamburg, railborne freight transport, down 4.3 percent at 11.9 million tons, or 4.6 percent at 663,000 TEU, on the first quarter of 2019, was still at a considerably higher level than the 612,000 TEU for I/2018.

“In recent weeks the Port of Hamburg’s superb hinterland connection has played a major part in ensuring that even in difficult times its effectiveness has remained unimpaired,” said Jens Meier, CEO of HPA. “Despite temporarily lower container volumes caused by the corona crisis, in the first quarter the Port Railway was able to report stable utilization and indeed even to improve on the 2018 level. That was by no means to be taken for granted, but is the result of systematically boosting efficiency and continuously expanding the Hamburg Port Railway.”

First-quarter throughput of bulk cargoes was 11.9 percent lower at 9.4 million tons. In this throughput segment, exports performed well, being 11.9 percent higher at 2.7 million tons. The trend was sustained by notable increases in exports of grain, up 177.2 percent at 694,000 tons, and of fertilizers, 8.1 percent higher at 638,000 tons.

For the next few months, Axel Mattern assumes that the Port of Hamburg must initially adapt to a continuation of blank sailings and falling total throughput. “From June, it is entirely possible that with a gradual pick-up in the economy in China and Europe, we shall be seeing an increase in sailings and rising volumes on port throughput and seaport-hinterland services,” asserted a confident Mattern.

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Flanders announces Gateway²Britain to make trade with UK frictionless

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3 hours ago

June 6, 2023

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Flanders announces Gateway²Britain to make trade with UK frictionless. Image: Port of Antwerp-Bruges

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Flanders, the northern region of Belgium, has announced Gateway²Britain, an innovative digital application that will bring visibility and transparency for trading with Flanders into one place. It is being delivered by a partnership between Port of Antwerp-Bruges, VLAIO, Flanders Investment & Trade and Deloitte. Their aim is to make trade between Flanders and Britain as frictionless as possible.

Traders are likely to be able to validate an initial version of Gateway²Britain by the end of this year. The application will allow traders to fill out just one dataset online, which is then automatically shared with all the relevant supply chain & logistics partners.

The UK is a significant trading partner for Flanders. Full-year trade figures for 2022 revealed that the total value of exports from the UK to Flanders amounted to 33.77 billion EUR. Imports into the UK from Flanders totaled 27.95 billion EUR, making the UK Flanders’ 4th highest export market. Flanders is in 16th position as a world goods exporter.

Research carried out among more thana thousand UK traders for Flanders Investment & Trade in May 20231 found that nearly 74% of UK companies agree2 that they had been forced to consider alternative markets due to the bureaucracy involved in trading with the EU post Brexit. Almost half of the respondents (48%) said they would trade more if the process was simplified and just over two in five (42%) had seen trade decrease with the EU since Brexit. The research was carried out for Flanders Investment & Trade by Censuswide.

Flanders is already a popular route into the EU for British companies due to its proximity to both the UK and Europe’s major business centres. A market of 400 million consumers is within 6 hours of the region, or 60% of Europe’s purchasing power. The world-leading seaports of Antwerp-Bruges, Ghent and Ostend are all in Flanders and the region has three international airports and sophisticated transport hubs, and over 650 European distribution centers.

Around 90% of British goods that are imported into Flanders are further processed and re-exported afterwards. Gateway²Britain will make Flanders an even more attractive route into the EU. No other EU country has yet been able to introduce a similar, comprehensive data-driven system to ease the friction created by Brexit.

The concept behind the new application will be further explained at Multimodal.

British companies who need help with trading with Flanders should contact Flanders Investment & Trade.

Minister-President of the Government of Flanders Jan Jambon currently visiting the UK commented: “Britain is an important trading partner for Flanders. We know from our research that British companies have been looking at alternative markets due to the bureaucracy involved post Brexit. Gateway²Britain signals the end of that bureaucracy. It makes life simple again, whilst meeting all the demands of the new rules.”

Dirk Verlee, Trade and Investment Counsellor at Flanders Investment & Trade, based at the Belgian Embassy in London, explained the significance of Gateway²Britain for consumers; “Flanders is a key route in and out of the EU for British traders. This means that if Gateway²Britain solves the challenges of Brexit in Flanders, supply issues that have affected the UK should also be solved.”
Annick De Ridder, Vice-Mayor of the City of Antwerp and President of the board of directors of Port of Antwerp-Bruges: “Port of Antwerp-Bruges has a long tradition of facilitating the supply chain and is fully committed to digitalization. The building blocks are in place to make our world port the ideal candidate to realize the vision behind Gateway2Britain. And that for the widest possible range of stakeholders. As a major export port to the UK, we also see this as an important opportunity for our own competitiveness, Flemish logistics and, by extension, a reinforcement of the economic engine we are for Flanders.”

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ONE takes delivery of first 24,000-TEU container ship, ONE INNOVATION

Published

4 hours ago

June 6, 2023

ONE

ONE takes delivery of first 24,000-TEU container ship, ONE INNOVATION. Image: ONE

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Ocean Network Express announced that “ONE INNOVATION”, the company’s first ever 24,000-TEU class Megamax, was successfully delivered at Kure Shipyard of Japan Marine United Corporation in June 2023.

The vessel, ONE INNOVATION, with a capacity up to 24,136 TEU, will help bring economies of scale and significantly lower carbon emissions through a state-of-the-art hull design that aims to maximize cargo intake and minimize fuel consumption. The vessel is equipped with a bow windshield, an energy saving device, and an exhaust gas cleaning system to meet the emission regulations of IMO. She is also the first of the six new Megamax vessels to joining ONE’s core fleet.

She will be deployed on the Asia to Europe service, under THE Alliance.

ONE is always committed to operational excellence, business sustainability and environmental protection. Through the introduction of ONE INNOVATION together with other five upcoming sister Megamax vessels. ONE targets to offer more competitive and best-in-class services to our customers with decreased environmental impact.

“ONE INNOVATION is the largest vessel in our fleet, and we are proud to have it as our flagship. This newly built vessel will help us pave the way for the sustainable development of global logistics and respond to customer requests with the world’s No. 1 quality of service,” Said Yu Kurimoto, Managing Director of ONE, during the commemorative party. “Last year, we announced our ‘Green Vision’, which aims to achieve net-zero by 2050. We are actively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our fleet, and we are confident that this vessel will contribute to this effort and bring innovation to global logistics.”

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Mawani and Saudi Post sign deal to deliver express mail service

Published

1 day ago

June 5, 2023

Saudi Ports Authority

Mawani and Saudi Post sign deal to deliver express mail service. Image: Saudi Ports Authority

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The Saudi Ports Authority has struck a strategic partnership agreement with Saudi Post to boost its best-in-class solutions and optimize service delivery in line with the objectives of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy.

The deal was signed by Dr. Majid Al Malik, Mawani’s VP for Shared Services and Digital Transformation, and Mr. Rakan Al-Daifallah, government sales general manager.

The collaboration between the public sector entities is set to deploy the latest technologies and modern capabilities in developing a high-performance and cost-efficient logistics sector in the Kingdom in support of national efforts that seek to enhance Saudi Arabia’s ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index.

A key step towards bolstering digital government services, the partnership will see the nation’s trusted logistics provider manage Mawani’s postal needs through its Express Mail Service, a customized solution for the Kingdom’s government and non-government sectors that offers a reliable and low-cost distribution channel both locally and internationally.