With a good 51 million tons in maritime transport, 6% more goods were handled last year. While the handling of general cargo, especially containers, and liquid bulk goods increased, the handling volumes of new vehicles decreased. An increase of 3 % was recorded in the area of liquid bulk goods (25.44 million tons in 2021 / 24.77 million tons in 2020). The handling of fuels and heating oils contributed to the positive result here. In the general cargo segment (incl. RoRo and containers), throughput amounted to around 13.87 million tons (+20% / 11.56 million tons in 2020). In this cargo segment, the handling of forestry products and containers recorded significant growth, while the handling of new vehicles was below the 2020 level at 1.28 million vehicles (-4% / 1.33 million vehicles). Handling volumes at EUROGATE Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven rose by 68.5% to 712,953 standard containers (TEU). In particular, the significant increase in unscheduled ship calls and the temporary relocation of services from other ports in Northern Europe due to the pandemic contributed to this result. A volume of 12.09 million tons was achieved in the handling of solid bulk goods (+/- 0 % / 12.13 million tons in 2020). "The first year of the pandemic was not an easy year for our seaports in Lower Saxony, and there were also repeated challenges to overcome last year - supply chains were interrupted, production facilities were temporarily shut down, goods flows shifted - which makes the 2021 port balance sheet all the more positive. We are seeing very good developments at several port locations, particularly in the handling and storage of general cargo, including RoRo and containers. According to the operator Eurogate, the planned entry of Hapag-Lloyd at JadeWeserPort offers clearly positive development prospects for container handling in Wilhelmshaven," explains André Heim, Managing Director of the port marketing company Seaports of Niedersachsen GmbH.

The following is a more detailed overview of the handling results at the individual locations: The seaport of Brake recorded a handling volume of 5.14 million tons in 2021 (-6 % / 5.45 million tons in 2020). At around 2.24 million tons, general cargo handling exceeded the annual result from 2020 (2.09 million tons) by 7 %. This was primarily due to a further increase in timber export volumes. Due to pandemic-related changes in the flow of goods, the handling of solid bulk goods remained below the previous year's result (2.51 million tons in 2021 / 2.89 million tons in 2020). Around 2.45 million tons of goods were handled by sea in Cuxhaven last year (+13% / 2.17 million tons in 2020). With 295,644 vehicles handled in 2021, the volume of new vehicles handled is around 2% below the previous year (301,735 vehicles in 2020). The port of Cuxhaven handled around 0.94 million tons (+10% / 0.86 million tons in 2020) of seaborne general cargo, which includes timber, for example. At 653,919 tons, solid bulk cargo was up 34 % on the previous year (488,080 tons). This was partly due to the high throughput of material transport as a result of the deepening of the Elbe. The Port of Emden recorded seaborne cargo throughput of around 4.03 million tons in 2021 (+1 % / 4 million tons in 2020). The handling of general cargo developed positively (+3% / 2.34 million tons in 2021 / 2.28 million tons in 2020), mainly due to the import of forest products such as pulp and wood. New vehicle handling of 981,520 vehicles in 2021 was around 4% below the level of the same period in the previous year (1.03 million vehicles in 2020). The handling of wind turbines was unable to maintain the 2020 level, while liquid bulk goods exceeded last year's result. The port of Leer handled 34,434 tons in maritime transport in 2021, increasing throughput by almost 100% (17,284 tons in maritime transport in 2020) and even exceeding the pre-crisis level with this result. In combined sea and inland transport, 313,328 tons of goods were moved in Leer, compared to 294,023 tons in the same period of the previous year. Scrap, gravel, grit and peat were handled most frequently in the seaport of Leer. Due to dredging work carried out in the port of Leer, larger seagoing vessels can now call at the port, which is expected to result in a slight increase in maritime traffic. In Nordenham, the seaborne handling result amounted to around 2.30 million tons (+28 % / 1.80 million tons in 2020). Increasing coal volumes in particular contributed to this (+62% / 1.09 million tons in 2021 / 0.67 million tons in 2020). In addition, the handling volume of minerals increased, while the handling of sulphates, petroleum products and iron remained below the previous year's level. Stable handling figures for coal and growth in general cargo handling, such as timber, are expected for 2022.