The Port of Hamburg handled 5.84 million TEUs (units equivalent to a 20-foot container) in January-September 2023 – down 7.4% year-on-year. The main reason for the decline was lower volumes on routes from the Far East, especially China.
This weaker trade with Asia is the best illustration of the slowdown in European consumption. On the other hand, shipments from the Middle East and North America increased, still not enough to compensate for the declines from the Asian direction.
HHLA, the operator of the Port of Hamburg, also highlights the decline in volumes from Russia as well as Sweden and Poland. The latter country’s case can be attributed to the expansion and growth of transshipment at Poland’s ports.
A positive sign?
The positive news, however, is that Q3 alone saw some rebound in container transshipments. Between July and September, 2.01 million TEUs passed through the German port – 2.4% more year-on-year. Trade volumes with Asia increased by 7.8% in the third quarter and with China alone by 8.8%. This offers some hope for the future. All the more so given that a record quarter was also observed in trade with the United States – the 170,000 TEUs handled represented an increase of more than 13% year-on-year. But officials are not so enthusiastic.
“To what extent this will have a positive impact on the annual result is not yet possible to predict, as the ongoing tense geopolitical situation and another reduced forecast for economic growth in Germany this year make it difficult to draw concrete conclusions,” commented Alex Mattern, Marketing Department CEO of the Port of Hamburg.
The Port of Hamburg management has fewer grounds to be happy about the transshipment of goods. A total of 86.6 million tons of cargo were handled at the port on the Elbe River – down 5.6% year-on-year. Of this, general cargo accounted for 59.2 million tons – 7.8% less than a year earlier. As for bulk cargo, it was the liquid goods that did well. With a volume of 7.8 million tons, they recorded a year-on-year increase of 6.7%.
Agricultural bulk commodities were quite popular, growing year-on-year by more than 10%. Dry bulk cargo, on the other hand, recorded volumes more than 6% lower than a year earlier, at 14.6 million tons. The Port of Hamburg recorded revenues of €1.09 billion in the first nine months of this year – down 7.1% year-on-year. EBIT fell by 57.4% to €61.8 million. Port operator HHLA earned €11.9 million in net profit – nearly six times less than the previous year (€69.8 million).
Rotterdam follows suit
The Port of Hamburg’s experience is quite similar to what is affecting Europe’s largest Benelux ports this year. Europe’s leader, the Port of Rotterdam, recorded a 6% decline in transshipments (down to 329.9 million tons) in the first three quarters of 2023. Dry bulk cargo recorded a total decline of 11.9% in the first nine months of the year (to 52.7 million tons). Contributing to this is a decrease in coal cargo (down 16.8%), with a 6.8% increase in iron ore and scrap metal and agricultural goods (up 40.7%). Other dry bulk cargoes, mainly construction materials and semi-finished products for industry, also saw a marked decline.
Liquid bulk cargoes were also in the red – but here the drop was a modest 2.4%. A total of 154.2 million tons were handled. A minimal increase of 0.4% in LNG imports failed to compensate for a 1.9% decline in oil transshipments. In this case, maintenance and repair work at a number of key refineries was an important factor that led to a reduction in crude demand. In terms of general cargo, the Port of Rotterdam handled 24.9 million tons of goods, i.e. over 6% less year-on-year.
Container transshipments also recorded a decline in the first nine months of the year. Their drop was similar to that recorded in Hamburg, at 7.2% year-on-year. 10.2 million TEUs of cargo flowed through the Port of Rotterdam, compared to nearly 11 million TEUs the year before.
No illusions in Belgium
Rotterdam’s main rival, the combined ports of Antwerp and Brugge, recorded an almost identical decline in transshipments in Q3 to that seen in the Netherlands.
The Belgian ports handled 204.4 million tons of cargo – down 6% year-on-year. The drop in container transshipments was 6.8%, putting the result at 9.5 million TEUs, and in terms of container cargo, more than 101 million tons were handled. General cargo fell by as much as 18.6% to 7.6 million tons. The culprit for the decline in this category was over 17% lower steel transshipments.
This, in turn, is a consequence of the economic slowdown in Europe that results in less investment, lower production, and less activity in the construction sector. Volumes in the dry bulk category fell by 14.6% to 11.2 million tons. Transshipments of fertilizers (down 24%), coal (down by staggering 36%), sand and gravel (down 7.4%) as well as iron ore and scrap metal (down 70% and 5% respectively) all saw strong declines. As with competitors, liquid bulk cargoes performed relatively decently at the port of Antwerp-Zeebrugge.
66.2 million tons were handled, and the drop in their transshipments was only 2.9%. Liquid fuel transshipments increased (by 8.7%) thanks to a whopping 42% jump in the diesel category (the effect of the embargo on petroleum products from Russia). Even lower LNG transshipments (down 6.7%) have not reversed this positive trend in fuels. But the deep crisis in the European chemical sector translated into lower volumes of chemical products – they were down 11.5%.
The Roll-on/Roll-off category remained virtually unchanged, with 16 million tons (0.9 less year-on-year). Within this category, the automotive segment, a specialty of Belgian ports, is doing well. The 12.6% increase in new car transshipments to 2.67 million units is a positive sign for slowly recovering consumption in Europe.
Still, the head of the Belgian port has no illusions as to the end of 2023.
“The competitiveness of the European industry is under severe pressure due to high energy prices, raw materials, and labor costs combined with low global demand. No near-term improvement is apparent in the indices, and container traffic will continue to be affected in Q4 by canceled sailings from the Far East,” said Jacques Vandermeiren.