Successful Hamburg Port Evening in Prague

For more than 30 years, the Port of Hamburg Evening in Prague has been one of the highlights of the autumn logistics calendar in the Czech and Slovak Republics. More than 200 logistics companies confirmed the importance of the Port of Hamburg for Czech and Slovak foreign trade with their participation.

In this context, the traditional Hamburg Port Evening in Prague on 12.10.2023 was attended by Deputy Minister of Transport Václav Bernand, Evžen Vydra (Head of the Water Transport Department) and Lubomír Fojtů, Director of the Waterways Administration. The German side was represented, for example, by Andreas Künne, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Czech Republic, and Bernard Bauer, Managing Director of AHK in Prague. In total, more than 200 guests from the Czech and Slovak logistics and transport industry came together at the invitation of the Port of Hamburg Marketing Prague Representative Office. Numerous guests were also welcomed from the Hamburg metropolitan region, including State Councillor Andreas Rieckhof and Lutz M. Birke, Head of the "Port and Innovation" Office of the Hamburg Ministry of Economics and Innovation.

Vladimír Doboš, Head of the Representative Office of Port of Hamburg Marketing in Prague, welcomed the guests, was pleased with the broad participation and emphasized the long-standing, successful cooperation that has closely linked the Czech and Slovak forwarding industry and shippers with the Port of Hamburg for many years.

Vice Minister of Transport Václav Bernard praised for the intensified exchange between the two sides in order to jointly develop the cross-border transport routes. He stressed the importance of the Port of Hamburg for the Czech Republic and the importance of good hinterland connections via rail, road and inland waterways. He also mentioned the ongoing negotiations on the exchange of the Czech territory in the port of Hamburg.

The State Councillor Mr. Andreas Rieckhof spoke about the long-term development prospects of the Port of Hamburg even in the times of volatile world economy and underlined the efforts of the Hamburg Senate to develop the port in a future-oriented way. In doing so, he referred the assembled guests to the recently published Port Development Plan 2040.

The important role of the Czech Republic and its strong industry for the Port of Hamburg was also emphasized by Marina Basso Michael, Regional Director Europe at Hafen Hamburg Marketing, who thanked the numerous customers gathered for their loyalty and long-standing partnership.

The Port of Hamburg is the most important gateway to the world for the seaborne foreign trade of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Last year, almost 490,000 TEU (20-foot standard containers) originating in or destined for the Czech Republic or Slovakia were handled via Hamburg container terminals. The most important mode of transport here is rail, accounting for almost 95 percent of the modal split. More than 120 container block trains run weekly between the Port of Hamburg and the Czech and Slovakian hinterland terminals. The leading providers of these container train connections are the HHLA subsidiary Metrans and Rail Cargo Operator.

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  HHR Prague

  Since 1990, the staff at the Prague location have represented the interests of Hamburg's seaport transport industry in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.