The analysis by the Statistical Office of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein describes that over the past 20 years, the German ports have recorded a doubling in traffic volumes handled that rose from 151.4 million tons in 1991 to 297.6 million tonnes in 2013.
However it was not a linear growth. Since 2009, in fact, the economic and financial crisis has left a deep trace in 2008 the traffic of goods handled by ports in Germany reached its peak of 320.6 million tons to go down the following year to 262.9 million tons.
Since 2010, at first there was a rapid recovery of the traffic that has remained stable in the following years to just under 300 million tons. The publication highlights how this trend has characterized the ports of northern Germany located in Lander of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, which together handle almost all maritime traffic in Germany.
The driving force of this growth has been mainly the increase in volumes handled by the two container ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven, where traffic has increased respectively by 60.3 million and 28.1 million tons in 1991 to 120.6 million and 67.1 million tons in 2013.
Source: Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein
