This sector reached a final total of 97.9 million tonnes. Over the same period, the handling of bulk cargo achieved a growth of 1.8 percent. The figure of 9.7 million TEU for container handling fell only just short (-1.5 percent) of the record result of 2007.
Hamburg. Photo: HHM / Michael LindnerA particularly significant factor in this area were the cargo figures for the fourth quarter of 2008. At 2.2 million TEU, these marked a 10.3 percent decline as compared with the average for the first three quarters of the year.
Of the decline in container handling at the Port of Hamburg in 2008, the lion's share – almost 70 percent – is being attributed to the decline in the handling of empty containers. At 1.8 million TEU, last year saw 105,000 fewer empty containers handled at the port, a drop of 5.4 percent compared with the previous year. Loaded containers handled amounted to a total of 7.9 million TEU, deviating only slightly (-0.6 percent) from the previous year's result.
Taking into account the weaker results for 2008, the average annual growth rate in the handling of containers in Hamburg over the entire period from 2000 to 2008 comes out at around eleven percent.