With a share of around 60 percent, container handling is the most important duisport business segment. Total cargo handling is expected to fall from 65.3 million tons to around 61.1 million tons (- 4.2 million tons).

Industrial demand declines
The main reasons for this were the weakening industrial demand and the phasing 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 included the closure of the Öresund Bridge, which significantly impaired trade with Scandinavia, and the weakened demand for chemical precursors.

Stable development in container handling
The stabilization in container handling to 4.0 million TEU (- 2.5%) after the record years of 2017 and 2018, also under difficult conditions, confirms the future viability of the duisport concept. Together with the Chinese logistics group Cosco Shipping and other partners, around €100 million will be invested directly in improving the infrastructure for a new container terminal. The Port of Duisburg will thus continue its strategy of shifting freight traffic, especially from Eastern Europe (trucks, semi-trailers, trailers), from road to rail. The expansion measures and customer relocations, particularly at logport VI, will provide positive impetus for cargo handling as early as 2021.

"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 downturn - 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 difficult conditions in the long term," concludes duisport CEO Erich Staake on the preliminary evaluation of the handling statistics for 2019.