Sector development

Global container throughput decreased noticeably during the reporting period as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the latest estimates by Drewry, however, the 2.1 % decrease for the year as a whole was not as dramatic as feared midway through the year, when a significant decline in global throughput of 7.3 % had been forecast for 2020.

The weakening of throughput activity was observed in almost all shipping regions, albeit to different extents. By global comparison, Europe was hardest hit by the decline in throughput. The drop in container volume was most noticeable in the ports of the Western Mediterranean, as well as in the Scandinavian and Baltic ports.

The trend among the major container ports of the North Range, as well as the largest ports of the Baltic Sea, was mixed. In the Port of Hamburg, the throughput volume fell by 7.9 % to 8.5 million TEU in the reporting period (previous year: 9.3 million TEU). In Europe’s largest container port, Rotterdam, the number of containers handled fell by 3.2 % to 14.3 million TEU in the reporting period. By contrast, Antwerp’s container throughput in 2020 increased year-on-year by 1.4 %, despite the pandemic, thus exceeding the record level of 12 million TEU for the first time. There was also growth in Zeebrugge with an increase in container throughput of over 10 % in the reporting period. By contrast, the JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven was hit hard by the effects of the pandemic and throughput volume fell by around a third. For 2020, the Bremen ports reported a year-on-year decrease of 1.8 % to 4.8 million TEU (previous year: 4.9 million TEU). As of the editorial deadline for this Annual Report, the port of Gdansk had only reported container throughput for the first ten months of 2020, amounting of 1.6 million TEU.

According to the most recent estimates from October 2020 – when neither the recent scope nor the impact of the restrictions connected with the spread of coronavirus could have been fully foreseen – freight traffic across all modes in Germany is likely to see a significant decrease in 2020. Transport volumes are expected to be down by 3.5 % year-on-year, while the rise in traffic performance – transport volume multiplied by the distance travelled – is likely to decrease by as much as 5.2 %. Road transport volumes will be down by 2.5 % year-on-year. Traffic performance is set to drop even more dramatically with a year-on-year decline of 4.0 %. Rail transport volumes will fall strongly by 10.6 %. Likewise, traffic performance will also decline by 8.8 %. By contrast, intermodal transport is less affected by the pandemic than other freight traffic sectors. Volumes will be 3.8 % down and performance 3.2 % down on the previous year.