Half-year balance: Lower Saxony's seaports handle 23.8 million tons

"After a very strong previous year, we are currently seeing a consolidation of handling volumes at a high level in our nine seaports in Lower Saxony, as we are still above the half-year result from 2014. The handling of bulk goods, which led to an overall decline in handling results in the first half of the year, is always subject to technical influences and the usual market fluctuations. The positive development in general cargo handling cannot fully compensate for this. Our seaports in Lower Saxony are still well on track to significantly increase handling volumes in the medium term," explained Inke Onnen-Lübben, Managing Director of the port marketing company Seaports of Niedersachsen GmbH.

The following picture emerges from the individual analysis:

With a handling volume of 3.25 million tons in maritime transport in the first half of the year,Brake achieved an increase of around 1% compared to the same period last year (3.21 million tons in the first half of 2015). This development was driven by stable business in the handling of agricultural goods, forestry products and wind energy components. As the handling trend will be more subdued in the second half of the year, handling volumes are expected to remain at the previous year's level on an annualized basis.

Around 1.42 million tons of goods were handled by sea in Cuxhaven in the first half of 2016. This corresponds to an increase of 22% compared to 2015 (1.17 million tons in the first half of 2015). On the one hand, this is due to the volume growth in the handling of solid bulk goods (350,789 tons from January to June 2016 / 185,172 tons from January to June 2015). On the other hand, handling of general cargo also improved significantly (+ 22 % / 533,904 tons from January to June 2016 / 436,350 tons from January to June 2015). This was partly due to the handling of offshore components. In addition, the handling volume of new vehicles increased by 16% to 234,001 units in the first half of 2016 (202,557 in the first half of 2015).

The seaborne handling volume at the Port of Emden amounted to around 2.03 million tons in the first half of 2016 (- 3 % / 2.1 million tons in the first half of 2015). There was growth in the handling of forestry products such as pulp and paper, of which 149,214 tons were moved across the quayside in the Port of Emden in the first half of the year (+ 43 % / 104,555 tons in the first half of 2015). The handling of wind energy components also increased in the first half of 2016 compared to the previous year. After a record handling volume of 705,450 vehicles in the first half of 2015, automobile handling has returned to normal levels: 649,297 new vehicles were loaded via the Port of Emden in the first half of the current year, which is roughly the same volume as in the same period in 2014. The handling of solid bulk goods fell by 12% to 251,736 tons in the first half of the year (284,454 tons in the first half of 2015).

In Leer, a handling result of 21,899 tons was recorded in maritime transport for the first half of 2016, which corresponds to an increase of 21% (18,121 tons in the first half of 2015). In inland traffic, which is also important for the port, the handling volume amounted to 120,420 tons in the first half of the year.

At around 1.16 million tons, seaborne cargo throughput in Nordenham from January to June 2016 was around 6 % below the previous year's result (1.24 million tons from January to June 2015). While coal handling increased by 2 % to 744,788 tons (728,823 tons from January to June 2015), shifts in other cargo areas ultimately had a negative impact on the overall result.

The Port of Oldenburg recorded a seaborne handling volume of 34,090 tons in the first half of the year (41,975 tons in the first half of 2015). Due to extensive construction work by one of the main cargo handling companies in Oldenburg to expand its handling facilities, some of the goods are currently being handled via other company locations. This is reflected in a temporary drop in seaborne handling in Oldenburg, although handling volumes are expected to increase again once the construction work is completed, particularly in maritime transport. At 452,028 tons of goods, an increase of 4% was achieved in inland handling in the first half of 2016 (435,377 tons in the first half of 2015).

At 306,643 tons, around 9 % less goods were handled by sea in Papenburg in the first half of 2016 than in the same period of 2015 (336,443 tons). However, the volume of seaborne goods is still significantly higher than the result from 2014. 77,904 tons of inland goods were handled in the Port of Papenburg in the first half of the year (+ 20 % / 64,829 tons in 2015).

The seaport of Stade recorded a handling volume of around 2.89 million tons in maritime transport from January to June 2016 (- 3 % / 2.99 million tons from January to June 2015). There was a slight decline in the handling of liquid bulk goods due to a planned technical revision at a local industrial company (- 2 % / 1.28 million tons in the first half of 2016; 1.3 million tons in the first half of 2015). A slight overall decrease in handling volumes was also recorded for solid bulk goods (- 4 % / 1.62 million tons in the first half of 2016; 1.7 million tons in the first half of 2015). However, the handling of solid bulk goods in particular is expected to reach the previous year's level by the end of the year.

In Wilhelmshaven, the handling volume for the first half of 2016 was around 12.64 million tons. This corresponds to a decrease of 14 % compared to the same period of the previous year (14.64 million tons from January to June 2015). Liquid bulk cargo, which includes crude oil, petroleum products and chemical base materials, was the main area of decline. In total, a good 9 million tons were handled in this cargo segment in the first half of the year, compared to around 10.78 million tons in the same period in 2015. This was primarily due to plant downtime at the refineries connected via Wilhelmshaven, which meant that less crude oil was requested for production during the first half of the year. The handling of solid bulk goods also fell short of the previous year's result: a volume of around 1.38 million tons represents a year-on-year decrease of 25 % in this area (1.83 million tons from January to June 2015). General cargo handling, on the other hand, continued to develop positively. At around 2.22 million tons, an increase of 9 % was achieved in the first half of the year (2.04 million tons from January to June 2015), which was primarily due to the increase in handling activities at the Wilhelmshaven container terminal. From January to June of the current year, 255,652 TEU were handled here (197,013 TEU from January to June 2015). red