Hamburg Cargo Falls 21 Percent

The port of Hamburg lost significant market share to close rivals Rotterdam and Antwerp last year as cargo traffic crashed more than 21 percent from 2008 and container volume shrunk by even more.

But Germany’s biggest port said traffic started to grow in the final quarter of the year and it expects cargo to increase by three to four percent in 2010.

Total cargo fell by nearly 30 million metric tons, or 21.4 percent in 2009 to 110.4 million metric tons, reflecting Hamburg’s exposure to imports from Asia, which declined sharply amid a deep economic downturn across Europe.

Hamburg lost significant market share in the competitive north European port range as Rotterdam’s 2009 overall traffic fell just 8.1 percent to 387 million metric tons and Antwerp’s throughput was 16.7 percent lower at 158 million metric tons.

Hamburg also slipped to third place in Europe’s container rankings with a 28 percent slump in box traffic to 7.1 million 20-foot equivalent units, trailing Antwerp which saw traffic down 16 percent at 7.2 million TEUs.

Rotterdam widened the gap with its rivals with volume down 9.6 percent at 9.74 million TEUs.

Container imports from Asia, dominated by shipments from China and Singapore, declined by 24.3 percent, or 1.3 million TEUs to around 4.2 million TEUs in 2009. Short sea feeder shipments of Asian exports to Russia and the Baltic region were even harder hit, with traffic slumping nearly 44 percent to 1.4 million TEUs.