Germany's largest universal port reported a good result for 2019 with seaborne cargo throughput of 136.6 million tons (+1.1 percent) despite a slowdown in global trade and existing trade sanctions. "With a significant increase in container throughput, growth in seaborne cargo throughput and the disproportionate increase in environmentally friendly hinterland transport by rail, it is clear that the Port of Hamburg is on the right track," said Senator Michael Westhagemann.

Container transport in seaport-hinterland traffic increases
In seaport-hinterland traffic, which is so important for the Port of Hamburg, environmentally friendly container transport by rail in particular saw double-digit growth. In 2019, a total of 2.7 million TEU were transported by rail between the terminals in the Port of Hamburg and terminals inland. This is an increase of 10.4 percent and another record result for the Hamburg port railroad. Around 62,000 freight trains with around 1.7 million freight wagons ran on its network in 2019. A total volume of 48.2 million tons of goods was transported (+3 percent).

In 2019, a total of 5.8 million TEU (+7.8 percent) and 97.5 million tons (+0.8 percent) were handled in landside seaport-hinterland transport by rail, truck and inland waterway vessel. In 2019, rail accounted for 46.3% of landside hinterland traffic in Hamburg in terms of container transport and 49.4% (+1.0%) in terms of tonnage transported. The truck share is 41.4 percent and inland waterway vessels have a share of 9.2 percent.

More than 100 liner services connect Hamburg with the majority of the world's more than 1,000 seaports. "In addition to the launch of four new transatlantic liner services, which brought us strong growth in container traffic with the USA and Mexico, a new Asia service, an India service and two multi-purpose services also provided additional cargo. We are taking this upswing with us into 2020," explains Axel Mattern, Port of Hamburg Marketing Director.

In seaborne container traffic with China, Hamburg's most important trading partner, a total of 2.6 million TEU (+1.7 percent) were handled in Hamburg in 2019. "The impact of the coronavirus on foreign trade volumes with China cannot yet be precisely determined. However, depending on the length of the restrictions in the Chinese economy, there is likely to be a significant decline, which will then also be reflected in the handling of Chinese cargo in Hamburg with a time lag. We will not be able to assess this until the end of the first quarter at the earliest," estimates Mattern.

The HHM Executive Board assumes that this will also lead to a decline in rail transportation between China and Hamburg. In addition to the daily seaborne connections with China, more than 200 connections per week are now offered from Hamburg via the landside New Silk Road by rail.

For 2020, the Port of Hamburg's marketing organization expects a stable result in container traffic and a slight increase in bulk cargo handling.