The German Port of Hamburg handled a total of 132.2 million tons of cargo for the whole of 2011, an increase of 9.1 per cent compared to the previous year.

Container throughput last year rose to nine million TEU, or 1.12 million TEU more than in 2010, representing growth of 14.2 per cent year on year.

Claudia Roller, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing (HHM), said: “We are delighted that in 2011 the Port of Hamburg proved able to achieve above-average growth both in total throughput and in container traffic. With the strongest absolute growth in container throughput, Hamburg regained market shares of approximately 1.3 percentage points as against its competing ports.”

Ms Roller forecasts that this year throughput volumes will continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate than last year to achieve a “moderate increase on seaborne cargoes.”

She highlighted that the forthcoming deepening of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe is expected to further boost Hamburg’s attractiveness in competition with northern ports as a European hub for ultra-large vessels.

“Nevertheless, as yet not fully implemented changes in major liner services make it difficult to calculate the trend in container throughput at this stage,” she said.

Last year’s imports amounted to 76.2 million tons, up 8.2 per cent compared with 2010. Exports via Hamburg at 56 million tons reflected growth of 10.3 per cent. The port handled 92.6 million tons of general cargo, an increase of 14.4 per cent year on year.

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