Inland terminals report general improvement from July onwards

Many of the inland terminals will connect Hamburg again with frequencies according to their timetables. However, the import and export traffic are not balanced everywhere. Thus, individual departures to the port may be suspended, depending on the demand situation. The inland terminals however believe that handling volumes and departures will increase soon.

Individual terminals, however, show a differing picture. If you take a closer look at Dortmund, an almost normal volume can be observed. This is due to its local customer structure. Cologne on the other hand reports less export volumes. For the Warstein terminal low import volumes hinder the uptake of a second export departure. The terminal operators in Bönen and Hanover also report significantly lower volumes, compared to the same period of the previous year. Whereby signs point to a recovery with an increase in handling volumes in July, compared to the previous month. Overall, the container train connections to and from Hamburg currently operate very stable. The RRT Rhein-Ruhr Terminal Duisburg reports a stable development too. Especially the textile-, chemical- and timber industry sectors show a good cargo volume development. The Minden region, also managed by Markus Heinen from the Germany-West representative office in Essen, suffers particularly from the COVID-19 effects, which have hit the meat industry particularly hard. This is illustrated by the slump in handling and the export reefer container volumes. Hamburg remains connected, however, via both inland waterway transport and rail freight transport. The Brunswick terminal assesses the overall development as positive. The Port of Brunswick reports volumes for July that are even higher than in the previous year.

The inland terminals at large provide a steady image. The well-established connections to and from Hamburg are maintained for customers despite lower capacity utilisation in some cases and temporary suspensions of departures. The overall development shows a positive trend, so that hopefully regular operations at all locations will be possible by September.

Port of Hamburg Marketing reg. assn. wishes all port- and business customers every success. We support our partners from the inland wherever possible.