Sector development

According to the market research institute Drewry, the container shipping sector is affected by a complex interaction of macroeconomic, operational, regulatory and behavioural factors. The far-reaching US tariffs under President Trump as well as the subsequent withdrawals and escalations caused significant disruptions to supply chains. Moreover, a brief military conflict between Israel and Iran stoked fears of a further regional escalation.

Global container throughput rose in the first quarter of 2025 by 7.0 % year-on-year as a result of front-loading and was therefore significantly higher than the previously forecast growth of 3.9 %. However, this effect is not seen as sustainable. According to Drewry’s most recent estimates, growth in global container throughput in the second quarter of 2025 is likely to reach 1.9 %, which is noticeably slower than in the same quarter of the previous year. Volatile demand and ongoing disruptions to shipping as a result of attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea are raising the operational pressure on ports. The result has been declining throughput productivity, longer dwell times for ships and increased waiting times.

Despite persistent global trade tensions and the crisis in the Middle East, European ports continued to recover in the first quarter of 2025. Container volumes in the Europe shipping region rose by 5.6 % overall in the first three months of 2025. As such, the increase was the sixth in a row – albeit still below the global average. This growth extended across all European shipping regions. The increase in container throughput was particularly strong in Scandinavia and the Baltic region, which outperformed all other European regions with growth of 10.2 %. According to Drewry’s experts, however, the pace of growth at European ports is expected to weaken in the second quarter of 2025.

The throughput figures for the North Range ports reported by port authorities or operators so far generally confirm Drewry’s forecast for regional development, albeit with differences in the growth rates of individual locations. Container throughput in Rotterdam, Europe’s largest container port, of around 7.0 million TEU in the first half of 2025 was up 2.7 % year-on-year. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges recorded even stronger growth of 3.7 % to 6.9 million TEU in the same period. For the first half of 2025, the Port of Hamburg increased its volume to 4.2 million TEU. According to the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), this represents year-on-year growth of around ten percent.

At the time of reporting, complete data for the first half of the year was not yet available for the other ports of the German Bight. Between January and April, throughput volumes at the Bremen ports rose strongly by 6.3 % to 1.6 million TEU. In Wilhelmshaven, container throughput even doubled to 274 thousand TEU in the first quarter of 2025 – representing growth of 102.2 %.