The Port of Hamburg has broken a rail freight record during 2021, handling container volumes of 2.79 million TEU, which is an 8% growth year-on-year. Overall, the port handled 48.5 million tons by rail, marking a rise of 4% compared to the previous year.
"Hamburg is impressively extending its position as the world’s largest rail port," noted Ingo Egloff, joint CEO of HHM – Port of Hamburg marketing. "Despite persistent challenges caused by the pandemic and disrupted transport chains, a new record figure was achieved for environment-friendly freight transport by rail," he added.
Rail growth was powered by additional container train services and growing shipments in the medium-distance segment of up to 300 kilometres. Rail’s modal-split share of container transport in Hamburg has reached around 51.5%, and trucking’s share is declining by 46.1%, according to the port's data.
In the meantime, the German port closed 2021 by moving 8.7 million TEU, representing an increase of 2.2% over the last year.
China was Hamburg's leading partner country for container handling, with 2.6 million TEU, recording a 5.5% advance in their trade year-on-year. Main trading partners were also the United States, Singapore, Russia, Sweden, and Great Britain.
Supplementing sea transport, a growing number of containers are being transported between China and Hamburg by rail through services on the New Silk Road.
"Last year, around 160,000 TEU were shifted by rail between Hamburg and more than 25 destinations in China, an impressive 51% increase," explained Axel Mattern, HHM’s Joint CEO, who went on to add that various suppliers market a total of more than 290 China train services to and from Hamburg.
During the same period, the overall seaborne cargo throughput was 128.7 million tons at Port of Hamburg terminals, which is a 1.9% growth over 2020.
"While considering the cargo volumes handled in the port, one also needs to remember that from German production alone, goods to the value of around 116 billion euros are annually exported all over the world through the Port of Hamburg," said Egloff.
For 2022, the Port of Hamburg hopes for an overall stable trend in seaborne cargo handling. "The war in Ukraine will have an impact on the throughput development of the Port of Hamburg," pointed out Mattern. "However, it is not yet possible to say to what extent the sanctions imposed on Russia will influence cargo handling," he concluded.
