“Ever Alot“
The “Ever Alot“ is the first container ship with a slot capacity of over 24,000 TEU.
Liner and Feeder Services
Hamburg's round-the-world liner service network
Around 7,000 seagoing vessels call at the Port of Hamburg every year. One of the main markets is Asia: in 2024, Hamburg was served by an average of 19 full container Asia services per week. In addition, there were 30 liner services to Northern Europe, 21 to Africa, 11 to the Red Sea/Arabian Gulf, 13 to South America, 15 to North America, 9 to Central America, and various direct connections to other destinations, including India/Pakistan, Central America/Caribbean, and Australia/Pacific.
The growth in the number of container ships with a capacity of 10,000 TEU and above – known as ultra-large container ships (ULCS) – continues unabated in Hamburg. In 2024, 386 ULCS docked in Hamburg. Terminal operators have been adapting to this trend for years and are expanding their facilities accordingly.
Hamburg as transhipment hub for the North Sea and Baltic region
Very large ships deployed in intercontinental deep sea services usually only call in ports able to offer adequate cargo volumes. Ports generating limited cargo volumes or those away from the main routes are usually served by feeders. Smaller containerships are used for these that are suitable for the respective trades with capacities of between 300 and 1,800 TEU.
Important European trades that are mostly served by feeder ships are the North Sea and the Baltic region. Hamburg is the major North-European transhipment hub for these services. In addition to distribution services intra-European cargo is frequently transported via the Port of Hamburg en route to the North Sea and the Baltic region (short sea shipping). Weekly, numerous feeder and short sea services connect Hamburg to Scandinavia, Poland, Finland and the Baltic States as well as to Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland. Hamburg takes on an important role in exports from Germany and our European neighbours.
Because of its position at the mouth of the Kiel Canal Hamburg is known as the most westerly Baltic Sea port. The Kiel Canal is a considerable location advantage for the Port of Hamburg and the German seaports on the North Sea, which are in competition with the ports lying further west. Hamburg has an advantage in the length of the route, e.g. using the Kiel Canal to Gdansk in Poland is 437 sea miles as opposed to 874 around the northern tip of Denmark (Skagen).