Tough times for port of Hamburg
Trade relations with China and Russia as main causes

The Port of Hamburg, one of Europe's largest and most important seaports, has seen a significant decline in container throughput in the first half of 2023. Figures released today by the Hafen Hamburg Marketing association show an 11.7 percent decline compared to the same period last year. From January to June, only 3.8 million standard containers (TEU) were handled in the Port of Hamburg.
In addition to container handling, general cargo handling was also affected, falling by 11.1 percent to 39.2 million tons. As a result, total seaborne cargo throughput fell by 5.8 percent year-on-year to 58.2 million tons. Interestingly, these decline figures are higher in the Port of Hamburg than in other leading North Sea ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp. The situation is even more dramatic in the German ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven, where container throughput figures have fallen by more than 15 percent.
One of the main reasons for the decline in throughput in Hamburg is weaker trade with China, Germany's most important trading partner. Here, a decline of an impressive 18.8 percent was recorded. Axel Mattern, CEO of Hafen Hamburg Marketing, expressed concern about this trend, pointing out that lower demand, the impact of COVID-19 and the political situation in China were among the main causes.
In addition, the Port of Hamburg experienced a massive drop in trade with Russia. Before the Russian attack on Ukraine, Russia was still the number four trading partner with 79,000 TEU in the first half of the previous year. Surprisingly, this number dropped to zero in the first six months of 2023.
Despite these alarming figures, the Hafen Hamburg Marketing association is holding back on forecasts for the rest of the year. The current economic and geopolitical situation makes precise predictions difficult. However, Axel Mattern remains cautiously optimistic and hopes that the slightly positive trend of the second quarter will continue.
Overall, the current data offer a mixed picture of trade in Germany. It remains to be seen how the situation will develop in the second half of the year and what long-term impact these trends will have on global trade and the German economy as a whole.
