Duisburg - In the 2013 financial year the duisport Group generated total output of 175 million euros. Thus, including sales from strategic investments, output rose by around 10 per cent on the previous year. At 30 million euros it was possible to slightly exceed the 2012 level of earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization (29 million euros). The result before taxes on earnings reached the high level of the previous year at 12 million euros. “Despite a difficult economic environment all business segments have developed well and have contributed to the positive result. Our integrated service portfolio thus continues to form the basis for the stable development of the result,” emphasized Erich Staake, Chief Executive Officer of Duisburger Hafen AG, at this year’s annual results press conference. The three business segments of the duisport Group – Infraand Suprastructure, Transportation and Logistics Services as well as Packaging Logistics – were each able to increase their volumes of business in 2013. While the Infraand Suprastructure division was able to increase its sales by 14 per cent to almost 46 million euros (2012: 40 million euros), sales at the Transportation and Logistics Services division grew by around 24 per cent to 54 million euros (2012: 44 million euros). Packaging Logistics achieved sales of 58 million euros – a plus of 12 per cent compared to the previous year (2012: 52 million euros). In this regard it has to be taken into account that the revenues of the Weinzierl Group and of duisport packing logistics India Pvt. Ltd. have been included in the business segment for the first time. In the 2013 business year the duisport Group made investments of around 50 million euros. The largest part of this, around 45 million euros, was due to investments in suprastructure, particularly in goods distribution centers and in developing terminal capacities. The remaining investments were due on port infrastructure. Increase in output despite decline in handling For the first time in 15 years there was no appreciable growth in the logistics sector last year. Goods handling in the sea ports also stagnated. Total goods handling in the ports of the duisport Group was not able to decouple completely from this development. The goods volumes handled on the three modes of transport ship, rail and truck were slightly below the previous year’s level at 62 million t (2012: 63 million t). This slight decline is attributable to the loss of a key customer in coal logistics (2 million t). Total goods handling for all Duisburg ports in 2013 amounted to 123 million t (2012: 110 million t). The rise largely resulted from the handling-related recovery in the private plant ports, which had suffered a collapse in 2012 due to poor developments in the coal and steel sector related to broader economic developments. A total of 31 million t – after 32 million t in 2012 – was handled by rail and ship in the ports of the disport Group in 2013. While rail handling reached the previous year’s level at 16 million t, ship handling declined slightly to reach 15 million t (2012: 16 million t). Container handling rose once again. This grew by 16 per cent to 3 million TEU (2012: 2.6 million TEU). “This positive development in the container sector shows one can generate growth with integrated transport and logistics concepts, even when there are stagnating handling figures in the sea ports,” says Staake. duisport continues successful marketing In total it was possible to achieve a high marketing output of around 264,000 square meters in the past financial year. The automotive sector in particular, with new locations of the CKD logistics centers (Completely Knocked Down) for Audi and Volkswagen, contributed to this development. duisport customers in this segment do not just offer import and export of vehicles and processing for bodywork parts. Consolidating and exporting automobile components is also part of the service spectrum of the companies based in Duisburg. Due to the loss of a large coal logistics customer the duisport Group took over parts of the “Kohleninsel” (coal island) at the end of 2013 and reactivated import coal handling there. The resulting positive effects will materialize in the current year. “The port still has nearly 100 hectares of land that can also be made available by optimizations. By developing further commercial and logistics areas in the whole Ruhr area we will also offer our customers an optimal connection to the multi-modal logistics hub duisport in future years,” says Staake. In addition to areas in Duisburg, land is also available to customers in the surrounding region. This includes Kamp- Lintfort (logport IV) and Oberhausen (logport V) in particular. It is intended to develop a further 100 hectares of space for logistics and industrial locations in the next five years. Extension of international commitment The duisport Group also further developed its international range of services in 2013. Duisburger Hafen AG is pushing forward the development of new markets for its customers in packaging logistics (dpl) in particular. In addition to extending the location in China (Shanghai/Wuxi), the business activities of the joint venture disport packing logistics India Pvt. Ltd. started in India on January 1, 2013. dpl is providing its expertise in packing industrial goods and project logistics for companies in the international mechanical engineering sector from the new location In Pune in the west of India. New packaging activities have been built up in Southern Germany and in neighboring France. By investing in the Weinzierl Group and in a French packing company, duisport packing logistics GmbH has increased its number of locations by a further four. Furthermore, the duisport Group successfully completed an international consultancy project in Dubai in 2013. disport developed a master plan for an inter-modal port hinterland concept for the Port of Jebel Ali in Dubai on behalf of DP World, one of the world’s leading port and terminal operators. “The new business year is off to a good start. All business segments show a positive development. Consequently, we continue to increase the number of employees and will for the first time reach a total of 1.000 employees in the current year”, concludes Staake.