In the seaport-hinterland transport segment of such importance for the Port of Hamburg, it was environment-friendly container transport by rail that achieved double-digit growth.

Also, 2.7 million TEUs were transmitted between the terminals of the port of Hamburg and those in the hinterland, representing a 10.4%, setting a fresh record for Hamburg’s Port Railway. At the same time the port handled some 62,000 freight trains with around 1.7 million boxcars. Total freight volume transported was up by 3at 48.2 million tons.

Containers saw a 46.3% of rail share of hinterland transport to/from Hamburg and one percent up at 49.4% by tonnage. The corresponding share for trucking was 41.4% and for inland waterway craft, 9.2%.

Concerning the seaborne container traffic with China the port reached a 1.7% TEUs increase.

Axel Mattern, Ingo Egloff’s colleague on HHM’s Executive Board commented that

For the moment it remains impossible to be precise about the repercussions of the corona virus on volumes in foreign trade with China. Depending on how long restrictions last in the Chinese economy, a marked downswing could occur.

The port reports that the construction of expanding the two sections of the fairway adjustment has been completed. This resulted to a combined width of up to 98 metres have been able to pass each other safely from January 29. Until now the limit was 90 metres. The widening of the passing box along the remaining stretch of three kilometres, on Hamburg territory, will be completed by mid-year. On completion of this measure, the permissible breadth of the ships will be further raised.

Mattern further explained that

Greater draft and an easier situation for passing on the Elbe permit improved utilization of transport capacity on the ships.

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

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