Last year, German ports handled 267.8 million tonnes of goods, down -4.1% in 2022 when cargo volumes handled fell by -3.2% over the previous year, according to the informant. In 2023, only the domestic traffic, which amounted to 9.1 million tonnes (+6.2%), while international traffic, with 258.8 million tonnes, marking a reduction of -4.4% generated decreases of -4.9% and -4.0% respectively in exports and imports amounted to €101.5 million, and 157.3 million tonnes, reports Port News.
Increased traffic
The Federal Statistical Office of Germany has made a statement to note that, as in the previous year, in 2023 the increased volume of traffic was handled by the port of Hamburg with 99.6 million tonnes (-3.6%) followed by Bremerhaven with 39.2 million tonnes (-8.4%), from Wilhelmshaven with 29.8 million tonnes (-6.1%) and Rostock with 23.9 million tonnes (+11,9%). The Office stated that the latter port benefited, in particular, from the significant growth in traffic of crude oil which rose from 1.3 million tons in 2022 to 5.2 million in 2023.
Last year, the U.S. was the main partner of German ports with a cargo volume of 27.9 million tonnes (+26.9%) followed by Norway with 25.1 million tonnes million tonnes (+10.6%). Sweden, which in 2022 replaced the Russian Federation as its main trading partner Until that date, in 2023 it was the third largest partner of German ports with 23.0 million tonnes (-5.9%) followed by China with 20.1 million tons (-3.8%). The Statistical Office specified that traffic with the United States grew mainly as a result of the increase in fossil fuel supplies from the U.S., with more than two-fifths of goods handled in 2023 with the USA (12.2 million tonnes) which were found to be imports of fossil fuels.
Overall, in 2023, there are 38.0 million tons of coal and oil arrived from abroad and natural gas, which is +5.3% more than in 2022. The coal imports (7.3 million tonnes in 2023) decreased significantly (-35.9%), while those of oil crude oil (25.9 million tonnes) increased by +6.2% as follows: such as imports of natural gas (mainly petroleum gas liquefied) which rose from 317 thousand tons in 2022 to 4.8 million tonnes in 2023. Regarding natural gas, last year by far the most important supplier country was the United States with 3.7 million tons.
In 2023, container traffic alone at German ports is 12.7 million TEUs, a decrease of -8.5% over the previous year. China has confirmed itself as the first trading partner for containerized traffic with 2.61 million TEUs handled (-12.2%) followed by the USA with 1.37 million TEUs (-3.2%).
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Source: Port News
