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HAMBURG's
seemingly inevitable ascent into tonnage
heaven, certainly to European pre-eminence,
appears to have stalled as its current box
volumes show disappointing results.
Such
news has dampened dreams of restoring the
glory of the Hanseatic League when Hamburg
dominated trade for 400 years - even once
controlled three acres of London, rather
like Hong Kong, where German traders could
live under their own law.
But
don't talk Hamburg down, warns Senator Frank
Horch when the disappointing port figures
were released. "Anybody familiar with
the port business will realise that the
Port of Hamburg's success cannot be measured
solely in TEU. Its success is composed of
many elements."
Writing
in the UK's Port Strategy magazine, Felicity
Landon says that lower container volumes
mask the bigger picture of Hamburg growth
- which is based on its landside hinterland.
Said
Senator Horch: "What makes the Port
of Hamburg strong is its character as a
universal port. The Port of Hamburg is actually
one of the largest and most varied industrial
zones in Germany."
He
was responding to figures that showed Hamburg's
throughput fell by 5.4 per cent last year,
to 137.8 million tonnes, including a 9.3
per cent fall in containers to 8.8 million
TEU.
Axel
Mattern, executive board member at Port
of Hamburg Marketing, agreed: "We have
a very big proportion of transshipment cargo
in Hamburg and of course suffered dramatically
due to the Russian crisis and due to the
slight dropdown of Chinese cargo.
"For
Hamburg is it always the case that we calculate
transshipment twice ?ie, coming in from
China and going out again. Of the losses,
almost 100 per cent came from transshipment
and we had no losses on the hinterland side,"
he said in a rare admission by any transshipment
port that it counts boxes twice.
"Of
course transshipment is very nice for statistics,
counting double, but the interesting cargo
for us is the cargo which is staying in
Hamburg and going into the hinterland. We
are confident that we are on the right track,"
Mr Mattern said.
In
non-containerised sectors, bulk cargoes
were up 5.8 per cent to 45.5 million tonnes,
including a 27 per cent increase in coal
imports to 7.7 million tonnes and 29 per
cent increase in grain exports at 4.2 million
tonnes.
Across
all cargo, Hamburg is concentrating on hinterland
connectivity, said Mr Mattern. Rail now
exceeds trucking as the most important mode
of transport to and from the port, taking
a 45.3 per cent share of the modal split.
"We are very well connected by rail
into the main market but we are working
to optimise it further. We are active in
a lot of small projects around infrastructure,
and trying to optimise rail track routes
in order to get more cargo on to rail."
Hamburg's
second largest market is North Rhine-Westphalia,
'which you would think is a typical market
for Rotterdam/Antwerp", said Mr Mattern.
The port is working closely with Deutsche
Bahn to upgrade rail connections to this
region, with the potential to shift 180,000
TEU a year from road to rail.
On
the east side, 75 per cent of cargo going
into the hinterland is already on rail.
"We are very active on increasing river
barging to the east via the Elbe,"
he said. "So there is a lot of potential
there as well.
"Terminal
operators are upgrading their facilities,
as they have to, due to the development
of ship sizes but hinterland connections
are the biggest headache and the main focus
for the whole port community. That's particularly
in view of the large ships where you might
get 10,000 TEU - 11,000 TEU on one ship
call.
"That
is causing a lot of transportation issues
and challenges. But we are deeply confident
that hinterland connectivity is the solution
for the future of the port," Mr Mattern
said.
Meanwhile,
the long-awaited dredging of the Elbe is
now tantalising close to reality, with a
final court decision expected by the end
of this year or early 2017.
"We
are 99 per cent confident the decision will
be positive," says Mr Mattern. "We
certainly need this deepening. Not in order
to get big ships in - that is possible now
- but the question is the number of big
ships and flexibility," he said.
In
2015, the number of ultra-large containerships
calling into Hamburg increased by 27.6 per
cent to 647.
"In
the present situation, the big ships are
not allowed to pass each other on the river,
so when one is coming inward, a ship heading
outwards has to wait. Deepening of the channel
- and widening, which is even more important
- will allow ships to pass each other. This
is not only for containerships but also
bulk carriers and others," Mr Mattern
said.
Dredging
of the channel would also allow ultra-large
containerships to carry up to 1,800 more
loaded containers than at present.
Assuming
the dredging is approved, a three-month
consultation period would follow, prior
to work starting. The deepening would take
six months and the creation of 'passing
boxes" would take another year. But
the effect of a 'yes" decision would
be instant, said Mr Mattern: "If they
decide yes, we will have some positive psychology."
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