News Hafen Hamburg

The Swedish paper and timber products manufacturer Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) and its transport and logistics unit SCA Transforest have been operating a regular scheduled liner service called “Container Express” since 1 March 2010, linking northern Sweden and the Port of Hamburg.

During the first two months of this year the Unicredit Bank PLC created a current “maritime trend barometer” by interviewing the major local shipping companies in Germany and Europe.

On 12 February 2010, the container ship MAERSK SYDNEY called at the Port of Hamburg for the first time as part of the Maersk Line’s expanded AE-10 scheduled liner service.

This liner service links the ports of Shenzhen (Dachan Bay), Ningbo, Shanghai, Kaohsiung, Shenzhen (Yantian), Hong Kong and Tanjung Pelepas with continental Europe.

Container traffic from and to Russia via Hamburg is picking up again. Growing demand for feeder transport capacity prompted the launch of an additional feeder service between the Port of Hamburg and the Russian Baltic seaport of St. Petersburg.

After a difficult year 2009, the Port of Hamburg expects moderate growth for 2010.

China is still one of the most powerful trading nations of the world. With a volume of around 2.3 million TEUs (20 foot standard containers), it remains Hamburg’s most important trading partner for sea freight and container transport.

In mid-January, the French shipping company CMA CGM started operating a new feeder service between the Port of Hamburg and the Danish ports of Fredericia and Copenhagen, as well as Halmstad in Sweden and the Baltic Sea port of Szczecin in Poland.

With the expansion of their new Feeder Logistik Zentrale (FLZ) for feederships, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and EUROGATE are further strengthening the Port of Hamburg’s competitiveness.

The Senate today adopted a resolution to apply to the federal government to have the Free Zone abolished. The decision has been reached after intensive discussions about the future of the Free Port over a period of several years. The resolution is based on a broad consensus that was achieved in cooperation with the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and the port-related business associations.

Europe’s leading multimodal container operator Samskip has appointed a new local agent in Poland.

The port of Hamburg is lowering its fees in an effort to secure the future growth of the port.

On 26 November 2009, the container ship “CMA CGM IGUACU” called at the Port of Hamburg as part of the expanded sailing schedule for the “Nigeria Express” liner service operated by the OT Africa Line (OTAL).

A new feeder service operated by the French shipping company CMA CGM has been operating between the Port of Hamburg and the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad since the middle of November.

An initial batch of 4,620 new Opel Astra cars will be shipped from the British production plant in Ellesmere Port near Liverpool to Hamburg on board RoRo vessels by the end of November. At the Port of Hamburg, the car transport ships arriving from the UK will be processed at the BLG Auto Terminal on the Kattwyk peninsula.

Trans-Baltica Container Line has launched a new Baltic Sea feeder service linking Hamburg with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Port of Riga in Latvia.

Economic and financial crisis also impacts on transhipments of sea-borne cargo at the Port of Hamburg in the first nine months of 2009.

 Germany’s biggest universal port reports initial upward trend in the third quarter of 2009 with a 4 per cent increase in container transhipments year-on-year

In the presence of numerous customers and business partners from industry and trade, Ole von Beust, First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and Chairman Klaus-Michael Kuehne officially opened one of the Kuehne + Nagel Group’s largest logistics centres in Obergeorgswerder to the south of Hamburg.

Under the common banner of 'The Port of Hamburg', Hamburg port companies will be represented with an exhibition stand at the China (Shenzhen) International Logistics and Transportation Fair 2009, to be held in Shenzhen, China, from 9 to 11 December 2009.

The redesigned internet portal www.hafen-hamburg.de now offers even more information about Germany’s biggest universal port

Hagen Seidel (39), TFG Transfracht Director, will leave the company by mutual agreement and return to the DB Group.

Grimaldi has added a fifth ship for the carriage of wheeled cargo to its Southern Express service between northern Europe and West Africa. On 10 September 2009 the Grimaldi Lines ConRo ship GRANDE BENIN was handled in Hamburg on its maiden voyage.