The Port of Hamburg said it handled 32.7 million tons of cargo during the first quarter of 2018, a 7.5 percent drop from the corresponding prior-year period.
Bulk cargo tumbled 18.2 percent year-over-year during the quarter to 10 million tons. The port said, “It was impossible to match the fresh record throughput total of 12.2 million tons achieved in the first quarter of 2017, with markets causing downturns in all three sub-segments: suction, grab and liquid cargoes.”
General cargo volumes dipped 1.8 percent year-over-year for the quarter to 10 million tons as a 2.1 percent increase in imports was offset by a 6.3 percent drop in exports.
Container handling for the quarter reached 2.2 million TEUs, down 1.9 percent year-over-year. “On the main sea trade routes, Hamburg’s container services with North America East Coast, Eastern Europe (Baltic) and India/Pakistan are still subject to downturns,” the port said. “Among the trades where container services performed distinctly better than in the first three months of the previous year were East Asia (North), South America East Coast, North America West Coast and North East and West Africa.”
Container shipping plays a huge role at the port, with 57 fully cellular container services calling the port that also sail to regions outside Germany, according to BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool.