With 110 million tons of sea-borne cargo handled in 2009, a year impacted by the global economic and financial markets crisis, Germany’s biggest universal port fell short of the previous year’s result by around 30 million tons (- 21.4 per cent). Improvements are in sight for the year 2010, and port-related industries anticipate a moderate level of growth. 

Claudia Roller, Chairwoman of Port of Hamburg Marketing Association presented the cargo-handling figures for 2009 at the annual Port of Hamburg press conference. “With a total transhipment volume of 110.4 million tons in what was a difficult year for the entire port-related industries and shipping sector, we recorded an exceptionally severe decline in the history of our port to date. In the period from January to December 2009, the terminals at the Port of Hamburg handled some 30 million tons of cargo less than in the year 2008. How­ever, since the third quarter of 2009, we have seen initial signs of a stabilising trend, and we are now witnessing a slight upward trend again,” said Roller. “An evaluation of the figures for sea-borne cargo handling in the fourth quarter of 2009 showed that in the second half of the year, transhipments of sea-borne cargo picked up by 3.7 per cent compared with the first half of the year. The negative trend has bottomed out, and the Port of Hamburg is once again headed for moderate growth,” said Roller confidently.

The fact that the global economy is emerging from the deepest recession in decades more quickly than anticipated last year is also the subject of forecasts in current publications by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “We take the view that Ger­many’s export-intensive economy will benefit from the growth in global trade as early as 2010. An additional factor here is that the People’s Republic of China, the key foreign trade partner for the Port of Hamburg, will generate increasing merchandise flows carried by sea as their export sector picks up again. As Germany’s biggest universal port and the most sig­nificant hub for traffic between Asia and China on the one hand, and northern Europe and the Baltic states on the other, the Port of Hamburg will benefit from these positive trends as early as the year 2010, and we can expect overall growth to reach three to four per cent,” said Roller.

Jens Meier, Managing Director of the Hamburg Port Authority, emphasised in his statement that “the foundations for a successful future for the Port of Hamburg must be laid right now.” The new Port Development Plan currently being drawn up by the HPA is being conceived in circumstances that are quite different from those in the past; as a result, global trends are also being taken into account in developing the new strategy for the port. Initial findings from an investigation carried out by a reputable business consultancy firm in­dicate, for example, that exploitation of the port's cargo-handling potential through a greater focus on growth regions constitutes an important success factor within the scope of devel­oping the port. Another factor is the increase in value added by attracting sustainable, viable port-related industries in a targeted fashion. The evaluation of this study, a companion document to the Port Development Plan, will be carried out in coming months.

Hamburg‘s State Minister of Economic and Labour Affairs, Axel Gedaschko, emphasized that port investments will not be shorten and that the City of Hamburg will come up with about one billion Euros. The efforts initiated by authorities together with port-related industries to increase competitiveness of the Port of Hamburg already lead to positive results. Those who are responsible for upgrading the fairway in the Outer and Lower Elbe agreed on a determinated schedule and the senator is expecting a final resolution in autumn 2010. First operations on river dams near Otterndorf should commence in the course of this year. Gedaschko excluded any cooperation for Hamburg with the container port of Wilhelmshaven that is being built. In close collaboration with neighbori