Europe’s ports split as Rotterdam edges up while Hamburg and Antwerp lose ground

Europe’s leading seaports delivered sharply contrasting results in the first half of 2026. Rotterdam eked out growth despite flat container volumes, Antwerp-Bruges and Hamburg lost cargo, while Algeciras increased its container business even as overall tonnage declined. The standout performance came from Germany’s Lower Saxony ports, led by a 36% surge in container throughput at Wilhelmshaven.

How Europe’s ports performed in H1 2026

Port	Total cargo H1 2026	Year-on-year change	Container throughput	Container change
Rotterdam	212 million tonnes	+0.4%	—	-0.1% TEU
Antwerp-Bruges	133.9 million tonnes	-2.4%	—	-1.5% TEU
Hamburg	56.1 million tonnes	-3.1%	4.0 million TEU	-3.8%
Algeciras	More than 50 million tonnes	-1.6%	2.4 million TEU	+3%
Wilhelmshaven	Around 20.6 million tonnes	+14%	898,000+ TEU	+36%
Cuxhaven	1.3 million tonnes	-32%	—	—
Lower Saxony ports, total	31.1 million tonnes	+7%	898,211 TEU	+36%
Bremen/Bremerhaven	H1 figure not yet available	—	H1 figure not yet available	—

Figures are based on the half-year data available from the ports and sources cited. “—” indicates that a directly comparable figure was not provided in the source material used for this article.

Rotterdam holds on to growth

Rotterdam remained the largest port in the group by cargo volume, handling 212 million tonnes in the first six months of the year, up 0.4% from the same period in 2025.

Growth came mainly from bulk cargo. Dry bulk increased by 1.7% and liquid bulk by 2.4%, while container volumes were virtually unchanged. Container throughput slipped by 0.1% in TEU and by 2.6% in weight to 98.5 million tonnes.

The underlying container figures, however, reveal significant changes in trade patterns. Deep-sea volumes increased by 5.2% in TEU, helped by an 8% rise in imports from Asia, while container traffic with North America grew by 13%.

At the same time, exports of full containers fell by 1%, adding to the imbalance between inbound and outbound flows. Transhipment volumes dropped by 20%, which the port attributed to a lack of terminal capacity. Rotterdam expects additional capacity to become available at several container terminals from the end of 2026.

Energy markets had a substantial effect on other parts of Rotterdam’s business. Oil product throughput rose by 11.5% to 25 million tonnes, with exports up 36%, while coal volumes increased by 17.8%. The port linked some of those movements to disruption in the Persian Gulf and higher energy prices.

Antwerp-Bruges hit by strikes and weaker exports

Port of Antwerp-Bruges handled 133.9 million tonnes of maritime cargo between January and June, 2.4% less year on year.

Containers were the main drag. Throughput fell by 1.5% in TEU and 3.6% in tonnes compared with an exceptionally strong first half of 2025. Full-container exports fell by 5.7%, while the handling of empties increased by 13.7%. The port said the figures reflected the weak export position of Western European industry.

Operational disruption compounded the problem. A four-day strike affecting nautical services in March cost an estimated 100,000 TEU, according to the port. An oil spill in the Deurganck dock in April resulted in a further estimated loss of 85,000 TEU, while industrial action by pilots in June accounted for another 75,000 TEU. The three disruptions together affected an estimated 260,000 TEU.

Trade flows were also reshaped by geopolitical events. Imports from countries around the Persian Gulf dropped by 57%, while full-container imports from the United States fell by 10.4% and exports to the US by 16.5%. China moved in the opposite direction, with higher container, vehicle and steel volumes.

Outside containers, the picture was stronger. RoRo throughput increased by 5.9%, with the number of new vehicles handled rising 7.7% to 1.695 million. Conventional general cargo, by contrast, fell by 11.7%.

Hamburg container traffic falls amid terminal modernisation

Hamburg recorded one of the steeper overall declines among the large North European hubs. Germany’s biggest seaport handled 56.1 million tonnes, down 3.1% year on year.

Container traffic reached 4 million TEU in the first six months, 3.8% below the previous year. In tonnage terms, the decline was 4%. Hamburg Port Authority said ongoing HHLA terminal modernisation had temporarily reduced available handling capacity.

Container trade with Singapore increased by 13.1%, Finland by 24.7%, India by 7.2% and Morocco by 4.7%. Those gains were outweighed by weaker traffic with several major markets, including a 13.5% fall in container volumes with the United States and declines in traffic with China and the United Kingdom.

Bulk cargo fell 1.1% to 15.9 million tonnes. Liquid bulk was down 14%, which the authority attributed partly to lower mineral oil imports following disruption in energy markets from April. Dry bulk, however, increased by 4.2%.

Conventional general cargo declined by 5% to 535,000 tonnes, largely because of weaker exports of steel products.

Algeciras grows containers despite lower overall tonnage

At the southern entrance to Europe, Algeciras handled more than 50 million tonnes in the first half, down 1.6% from a year earlier. Container traffic moved in the opposite direction, rising 3% to 2.4 million TEU.

According to the figures reported by Cadena SER, the improvement was supported by higher volumes of laden import and export containers and reefer traffic. Imports of produce including mangoes and avocados increased as the port supplied European demand during months when domestic production on the Iberian Peninsula was unavailable. Brazil, Egypt, Argentina and Chile were among the origins showing the strongest growth.

June was particularly strong. Total cargo exceeded 8.7 million tonnes, up 9%, while container throughput for the month reached 417,327 TEU, up 2%. Lorry traffic increased by 11% to 45,365 units.

Wilhelmshaven drives Lower Saxony surge

The strongest growth among the port groups covered came from the nine Seaports of Niedersachsen. Together, they handled 31.1 million tonnes of seaborne cargo, a 7% increase from 29.1 million tonnes a year earlier.

Container throughput jumped 36% to 898,211 TEU, while general cargo volumes increased by 25% to more than 12 million tonnes. Bulk cargo was the exception, declining by just under 2% to about 19.1 million tonnes.

Virtually all of the region’s container traffic passed through Wilhelmshaven. The port handled around 20.6 million tonnes in total, 14% more than in the first half of 2025, while container volumes exceeded 898,000 TEU, up 36%. New vehicle throughput approached 68,000 units.

Cuxhaven had a much weaker half-year, with seaborne cargo falling 32% to 1.3 million tonnes. The decline was largely due to unusually high construction-material volumes in the comparison period in 2025. General cargo, including wind-energy components, developed more positively, while new vehicle handling fell to 185,508 units.

Different ports, common pressures

Taken together, the figures show no single direction for Europe’s port market in early 2026. Rotterdam remained broadly stable, while Antwerp-Bruges and Hamburg were affected by a combination of weaker European exports, operational constraints and disruptions to international trade. Algeciras continued to gain container volumes, while Wilhelmshaven recorded by far the fastest container growth among the ports covered.

They also point to a widening gap between headline tonnage and container performance. Algeciras increased TEU volumes despite lower total cargo, while Rotterdam’s deep-sea business expanded even though overall container throughput was virtually flat. Antwerp-Bruges, meanwhile, saw rising volumes of empty containers alongside falling laden exports — a clear sign of the imbalance currently affecting European trade flows.

Comparable first-half figures for Bremen and Bremerhaven were not yet available in the material published by bremenports. Its statistics page currently provides monthly 2026 data only through May, so the ports have not been included in the half-year comparison.