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. This 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," continued Staake.
The packaging logistics business segment with the highest turnover 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. Sales in 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 phasing out of coal-fired power generation, which led to a further significant decline in bulk cargoes. Overall, the coal and steel sector was down 20% on the previous year. Other factors include the closure of the Öresund Bridge, which is significantly affecting trade with Scandinavia, and the weakened 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.

Important projects 2019 (selection)
logport VI in Duisburg-Walsum: duisport is building a trimodal container terminal directly on the Rhine on the 40-hectare logport VI site. 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 be responsible for 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 for construction and operation from the city of Oberhausen. 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 before the start of the 2021 Christmas season. 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 sector 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.