The port of Hamburg handles more than 135 million tonnes of seaborne cargo; A big portion of this freight is arriving or departing the port by rail. The rail is in pole position in Hamburg with 48.2%, with the 41.4% of trucking following and inland waterway shipping holding the 10.2%.
During Q1 of 2019, 12.5 million tonnes of freight were transmitted through rail from Port of Hamburg to destinations either in Germany or Europe, achieving a 7.7% rise.
At the same time, 690,000 TEUs standard containers were transported by rail, experiencing an increase of 13.6%.
According to the port’s statement, the rail development is due to the addition of four Trans-Atlantic liner services connecting Hamburg with the USA, Mexico and Canada, along with new container block services.
Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, noted that in order to avoid traffic and find more environmentally friendly ways on transportation, rail transport will be as important as seaport-hinterland transport.
He continued that the preparedness will come not only by developing and modernizing the port, bu also by digitalizing the port’s infrastructure.
Both the rail network and the inland handling terminals have to have both their performance and capacity upgraded for the additional freight volumes
… Mr Mattern added.
Concluding, the port needs more than 5,000 freight railcars, so that the handling terminals and industrial premises manage the products being transmitted. Thus, the number of rail transport operators utilizing this widespread rail network has risen in recent years to more than 150 companies.
