In recent days, both Hamburg and Rotterdam have announced marked declines in their cargo and container throughputs respectively. The Port of Hamburg’s container throughput fell 7.5% last compared to 2022, while the Port of Rotterdam saw its cargo throughput drop by 6.1% year-on-year.
Commenting on Hamburg Port’s results, Angela Titzrath, HHLA’s Chief Executive Officer, said:
“In 2023, the war in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions, high inflation rates and increased interest rates had an impact on the global economy and increasingly dampened economic development over the course of the year. This also had an impact on the entire logistics industry and HHLA’s business, causing a result just below our expectations.”
Titzrath’s comments were somewhat echoed by Boudewijn Siemons, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, who said throughput had fallen at the port for the same reasons.
The results of these two giant ports were largely mirrored at other ports throughout Europe, with some harder hit than others.
The Port of Riga, for instance, experienced a huge year-on-year drop in volumes of over 20%. The Latvian Ministry for Transport said the drop in turnover was a result of geopolitical factors, predominantly sanctions directed against Russia. The situation was even worse in the Port of Tallinn, where throughput collapsed by 29%.
On the other hand, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also seen volumes at some other ports rise, bucking the trend seen at sea ports across the continent.
A case in point is the Port of Constanța în Romania, which experienced a remarkable 22.5% year-on-year increase in cargo throughput. The eye-opening rise has largely been down to an increase in grain shipments from Ukraine.
Grain imports also helped the Port of Gdansk record 19% more cargo throughput than in 2022. In addition, the Port of Gdynia, located nearby, enjoyed a throughput increase of 5%.
Other ports that handled more freight in 2023, despite the economic turmoil, were the ports of Bilbao, Kiel, Gothenburg and Gioia Tauro.
Bilbao attributed its modest 0.11% increase to the bulk liquids and solids it handled in 2023, while Kiel said its results were helped by volume growth on its Oslo route, as well as high demand for bulk goods used in the ongoing construction work on the Kiel Canal.
As for the Port of Gothenburg, it said its positive results were partly down to the strength of Swedish industry, particularly forestry. In the case of Gioia Tauro, the port itself did not specify a specific factor behind its 2023 success. However, Andrea Agostinelli, Chairman of the Port System of the Southern Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, did thank MSC for its regular visits to the port, which are believed to have had a big impact on the results.
Over the last 7-8 weeks, ports across Europe have been issuing their results, which can be seen in the tables below.
Among the ports that experienced year-on-year drops in throughput, the average decline was just over 10%.
The picture of how things played out in 2023 will become even clearer when more ports announce their 2023 results.
To the best of our knowledge, the remaining ports are still to declare their full-year 2023 throughputs:
- Port of Almeria
- Port of Amsterdam
- Port of Bergen
- Bremenport (including Bremerhaven)
- Port of Dublin
- Port of Genoa
- Port of Felixstowe
- Port of Helsinki
- Port of Lisbon
- Port of Oslo
- Port of Piraeus
- Port of Rosslare
- Port of Sines
- Port of Split
- All major UK ports run by Peel Ports, ABP Ports and DP World
Photo: Artur Andrzej, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons