Port of Hamburg solicits at one of China’s biggest transport and logistics trade fairs

The Port of Hamburg is the most important European seaport for Chinese foreign trade in the field of containerised transport. Today more than half of Germany’s foreign trade with the People’s Republic of China goes through the Port of Hamburg.

To further promote the wealth of services on offer in the port and the Hamburg metropolitan region, Port of Hamburg Marketing organised a joint Port of Hamburg exhibition stand at the China (Shenzhen) International Logistics and Transportation Fair 2010, to be held from 15 to 17 October. Together with Port of Hamburg Marketing, port-related businesses from Hamburg and the region will be exhibiting at the 112-square metre joint stand to provide Chinese shippers involved in importing and exporting with information about products and services offered. The exhibitors at the joint Port of Hamburg exhibition stand are: Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, Buss Group GmbH & Co. KG, Eurogate GmbH & Co. KGaA KG, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), Port of Hamburg Marketing, Straightway Finland Ry. and TCO Transcargo GmbH. In the lead-up to this trade fair, the Port of Hamburg, together with a delegation from Finnish ports, will host a seminar on the subject of “Supply Chain Collaboration for Riding Asia–Europe Trade Growth Trend” in Hong Kong. Participants include selected representatives from Chinese businesses in the port and logistics sector.

For Hamburg, China (incl. Hong Kong) is by far the most important trading partner, accounting for 34 per cent of total container traffic at the Port of Hamburg. In the first half of 2010, some 1.3 million TEU (20-foot standard containers) were moved be-tween Hamburg and China. Compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, this represents an increase of about 9 per cent. Principal import commodities for German companies are electrical goods, toys, textiles and clothing. Exports to China are dominated by machinery and equipment, special equipment as well as motor vehicles.

The significance of Germany’s biggest seaport for the trade with China is underlined by the large number of scheduled liner services. At present, no fewer than 26 services link the Port of Hamburg with ports in China, including Hong Kong. Scheduled liner services between Asia and Hamburg are increasingly deploying largescale container ships with a carrying capacity of more than 10,000 TEU. The trade relationship between Hamburg and the world’s fourth-largest container port in Shenzhen can look back on a long tradition. Its importance is evident from the fact that 21 of the 26 scheduled liner services in the Hamburg–Asia connection regularly call at the Port of Shenzhen. The long-standing close cooperation between Shenzhen and Hamburg was further enhanced in 2007 when the two port cities entered into a port partnership.

The Port of Hamburg Marketing representative office on the premises of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce has been taking care of the important Shenzhen eco-nomic region since 1992. The German Industry and Commerce Ltd. (GIC) represents the interests of Port of Hamburg Marketing in Hong Kong, southern China and Viet-nam and is headed by Ekkehard Goetting and Michelle Chan.