Bremen/Bremerhaven Reports Record Box Traffic

Container traffic at Bremen/Bremerhaven hit a record high in April as the German twin ports continue to outpace growth at their North West European rivals.

The two ports handled 512,000 20-foot equivalent units in April, almost 20 percent higher than a year ago and 40,000 TEUs ahead of the previous record of 472,000 TEUs in April 2008, before the global economic crisis collapsed traffic.

By the Numbers: Container Rate Benchmark.

Container traffic totaled 1.9 million TEUs in the first four months of the year, a 23.5 percent increase on the year-earlier period that is significantly higher than growth at Rotterdam, Antwerp and neighboring Hamburg.

Bremen/Bremerhaven box traffic jumped 24.9 percent in the first quarter to 1.4 million TEUs, closing the gap on Hamburg, Germany’s biggest port, which grew 18.2 percent to 2.1 million TEUs.

Bremerhaven, the larger of the two ports, boosted automotive shipments by 35.4 percent in April to 176,000 units.

This took traffic for the first four months of 2011 to 662,000 units, a 46.5 percent gain on the year-earlier period that consolidated its status as Europe’s biggest auto logistics hub.

-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.