Although the economic environment had already become considerably more difficult in 2019, the duisport Group was still able to stay on course in the past financial year. Although total throughput in the port declined, the increasingly diversified company was still able to generate revenue of EUR 292.6 million in 2019. This represents an increase of 5.1% or EUR 14.1 million compared to the previous year's turnover of EUR 278.5 million. The operating result (EBITDA) improved by 2.1% from EUR 42.5 million to EUR 43.4 million. Net profit for the year increased from EUR 12.2 million in 2018 to EUR 13.0 million. That is an increase of 6.8%.

"After 21 years of uninterrupted growth, the Port of Duisburg is facing major challenges. The recession that began with the pandemic and the second structural change on the Rhine and Ruhr will have a negative impact in this and the following financial years. The emerging catch-up effects, the decline in the automotive and industrial business, are already having a drastic impact today and will continue to be felt well into the fall. Overall, I anticipate a decline in total economic output of 10% over the course of 2020," says Erich Staake, CEO of the duisport Group, assessing the situation. "We have to take a long-term view with a sense of proportion and realism, but we must not neglect our strategic projects. We must actively adapt our business models for the second structural change towards digitalized logistics and industry, which is why we will continue to expand our startport incubator in the area of digitalization as planned. We will also continue to push ahead with ambitious infrastructure projects such as logport VI. The coronavirus situation must not lead to paralysis, but rather challenge our entrepreneurial creativity in a special way. We will accept the expected setbacks, but continue to look ahead with courage. This is the only way to overcome this crisis," Staake continued.

The business segment with the highest turnover, packaging logistics, recorded a strong increase of 8.9% - from 93.6 million euros to 102.0 million euros. In contract logistics, duisport achieved sales growth of 24.4 million euros to 29.7 million euros. The Infra- and Suprastructure segment recorded sales of 53.5 million euros, a slight decrease of 1.6% compared to 54.3 million euros in the previous year.

Revenue from logistics services fell by 1.5% from EUR 77.1 million to EUR 75.9 million. In 2019, the duisport Group increased its expenditure on property, plant and equipment and financial investments from 20 million euros in 2018 to 26.4 million euros.

Total cargo handling

The duisport Group's total cargo throughput fell from 65.3 million tons to around 61.1 million tons in 2019. This is a decrease of 4.2 million tons.

The main reasons for this are the weakening industrial demand and the phase-out of coal-fired power generation, which led to a further significant decline in bulk shipments. Overall

The coal and steel sector was down 20% on the previous year. Other factors include the closure of the Öresund Bridge, which significantly impacted trade with Scandinavia, as well as weaker demand for chemical precursors.

In contrast, container throughput at Duisburger Hafen AG remained at the 2018 level (4.1 million TEU) in 2019 at around 4.0 million TEU. With a share of around 60 percent, container handling is now the most important duisport business segment.

"The departure from coal, the continuing crisis in steel, the unclear political framework conditions of the energy transition, the challenges of digitalization and the looming economic deterioration - all these factors are acting like a second structural change for the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia. Duisburger Hafen AG's diversified business model is up to these challenges. However, even a company as well-positioned as ours cannot escape the increasingly deteriorating framework conditions in the long term," concludes duisport CEO Erich Staake on the handling statistics for 2019.

Central hub

At the same time, duisport has achieved further success in expanding its role as a central freight hub for Central Europe. Around 30% of all trade by freight train between China and Europe is already handled via the Port of Duisburg. The Rhine-Ruhr region is therefore becoming increasingly important for trade between the EU and China. Up to 40 trains a week run between Duisburg and a dozen destinations in China.

Cooperation with premium partners from China, Switzerland and Eastern Europe is intended to facilitate further growth along the Silk Road corridors in the interests of the German export industry.

China Railway Container Transport Corp., Ltd (CRCT) plays an important role in this. In November 2019, a framework agreement was signed with this leading rail company on further joint optimizations in China traffic. At the same time, CRCT Europe Logistics GmbH opened its official European branch in Duisburg. The two leading companies in the transport and logistics sector are thus promoting rail transport between China and Duisburg. At the same time, duisport was able to create an additional service for its customers and strengthen its position as Europe's most important hinterland hub.

Key projects in 2019

Great Stone

At the Great Stone industrial and logistics park, a bimodal rail terminal including a large logistics area based on the logport model is being built on an 80-hectare site on the initiative and under the management of duisport together with its partners China Merchants China-Belarus, the Belarusian state railroad and the Swiss company Hupac. An agreement to this effect was signed in Minsk. Construction work is set to begin in 2020.

DIG Duisburger Infrastrukturgesellschaft

Duisburger Infrastrukturgesellschaft (DIG) was founded jointly by the City of Duisburg (75.1 percent share) and Duisburger Hafen AG (24.9 percent) in February 2019. The aim is to manage infrastructure projects around the port by bundling municipal project responsibility, including the respective eligibility for funding and the planning, financing and implementation experience of the port company.

logport VI in Duisburg-Walsum

On the 40-hectare site of logport VI, duisport is building a trimodal container terminal directly on the Rhine. In September 2019, logport VI, the second largest development project since logport I, reached the first milestone. At this point, the demolition of the factory halls of the Walsum paper mill, which went bankrupt in 2016, was complete and the site was ready for construction.

Hand in hand for less truck traffic

As part of the further development of logport VI, duisport has now prepared the legal basis for the construction of the container terminal and the internal access road for logport VI: DIG is to be commissioned in the short term to carry out the development plan procedure for the 2nd construction phase of the Walsum link road; in addition, the company will also take over the structural realization of the first construction phase on behalf of the city. As the main shareholder of Duisburger Infrastrukturgesellschaft (DIG), the City of Duisburg will now also formally award the planning contract for the second construction phase.

logport V in Oberhausen

logport ruhr GmbH, a joint venture between duisport and RAG Montan Immobilien, is currently preparing a 30-hectare site in Oberhausen for Edeka Handelsgesellschaft Rhein Ruhr mbH. A central warehouse with over 1,000 jobs is being built there. In June 2019, EDEKA Rhein-Ruhr received approval from the city of Oberhausen to build and operate the warehouse. In October 2019, the ground-breaking ceremony took place on the site within sight of the A3. While the logistics halls are rising into the sky, logport ruhr GmbH is working on completing a two-kilometer connecting road to the freeway junction. EDEKA plans to open the warehouse in time for the start of the 2021 Christmas season.

CargoBeamer

In 2019, Duisburger Hafen AG and the Leipzig-based rail technology company CargoBeamer AG agreed on a long-term cooperation for more growth in combined rail/road transport. The aim of the cooperation is to massively increase rail freight traffic, thus relieving the pressure on roads and freeways. Three elements are to be used in favor of a further climate-friendly turnaround in transport: Automated transhipment for semi-trailers from road to rail, robotized goods centers and the electromobile distribution of goods to industrial centers and urban conurbations.

Jobs for the Rhine-Ruhr region

The duisport Group is one of the largest and most important employers in the Rhine-Ruhr region: the logport areas of the Port of Duisburg in particular are a job engine for the entire metropolitan region. In 2019, a total of 47,000 people were employed directly or indirectly in the port's various transport and logistics companies. The duisport Group alone employs 1,500 people. With its effective long-term training and further education strategy, duisport is one of the most important sources of inspiration and offers a total of 12 apprenticeships. Around 30,000 versatile, varied and sustainable jobs have been created by duisport since 1998.

Crane simulator

The duisport Group has unveiled its own 3D crane simulator in Duisburg's free port: Premiere for combined transportation in the hinterland. The world's largest inland port is thus not only setting new standards in the field of technical development in the logistics sector, but is also investing in the professional training and development of its own employees.

startport

startport is the Port of Duisburg's innovation platform. Since it was founded at the end of 2017, a total of 35 start-ups have already been given the opportunity to develop innovative solutions for the logistics industry together with the startport accelerator. In addition to young startup founders from Germany, two startup companies from Finland and Slovenia have also been working at the startport headquarters in Duisburg's inner harbor since the start of 2020. At the same time, the startport GmbH team is growing - to a total of 12 employees in the 2019 financial year.

The startport exclusive partners Evonik, Klöckner & Co. and Initiativkreis Ruhr have now been joined by the RAG Foundation and Borussia Dortmund since the beginning of 2019. startport intends to expand its circle of exclusive partners again in 2020. duisport is rounding off its commitment to digital logistics innovations by actively participating in the Dortmund Fraunhofer Institute's Digital Hub.

Sustainability and research projects

In spring 2019, three shore power filling stations operated by innogy were installed in Duisburg-Ruhrort. Up to six inland waterway vessels moored on land can be supplied with electricity at the same time.

Research project with RWE Supply & Trading + University of Duisburg-Essen: Increased use of the environmentally friendly liquefied natural gas LNG in the port. The companies Rolande and Liquind are building filling stations that will go into operation in mid-2020.

Continuous conversion of hall lighting: the port has already equipped more than 100,000 square meters of hall space with energy-saving LEDs. The more than 1,000 lights on the port's own roads and the railroad area have been converted to LED operation since 2019.

Since June 2019, Duisburger Hafen AG (duisport) and the Fraunhofer Institute Umsicht have been developing an overall concept for the use and supply of energy on the 1,550-hectare port area. The project is called "enerport" and is being funded with more than EUR 1 million by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Using the Port of Duisburg as an example, it pursues a cross-industrial approach to linking the energy sector with the residential, commercial, industrial, logistics and transport sectors.

duisport is also involved in three research projects in the "Innovative Port Technologies" (IHATEC) funding program of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). Together with partners from science and practice, the focus here is on the development of application-related innovations in the port sector: the InnoPortAR project is developing innovative fields of application for augmented reality, which are being demonstrated using several use cases.

The TrailerPort project aims to use intelligent technical and organizational solutions to mitigate the parking space problems caused by an increasing number of semi-trailers in the handling terminals and to increase or maintain the capacity of the terminals. The third project, "SecProPort", demonstrates prototype solutions for a security architecture in the port communication network. It is intended to help ward off future threats from cyber attacks.

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