World Trade - January 2009 - (Page 44)

REGION: EUROZONE Port of Hamburg modate post-Panamax vessels, is scheduled for 200 million euros worth of investments to modernize the facility and boost handling capacity to over 4 million TEUs. HHLA Container Terminal Alterwerder is considered one of the most modern container handling facilities in the world; HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai, the largest handling facility in the Port, accounts for over 5,000 vessels per year. While the Port has historically been well positioned to western Europe, at its eastern end, the step jump in its distribution prowess comes from rail initiatives eastward, which have contributed signiﬁcantly to Hamburg’s boom in container trafﬁc as it regained its traditional hinterland—now dead-center in Europe. With road infrastructure in the old Soviet bloc countries insufficient to meet increasing demand, a joint venture intermodal (port operator HHLA, a Hamburg-based trucking company and the Polish State railways) launched Polzug Intermodal in 1991. Today, Polzug is operating more than 3000 block trains annually to and from Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Hamburg and the industrial centers of Poland and beyond. In 2007, Polzug carried 140,000 TEUs into the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe with volume expected to jump by a substantial margin in 2008 (pre-year projections were for 25 percent growth 44 WORLD TRADE JANUARY 2009 The Port of Hamburg, Europe’s second largest container port, is regarded as one of the most important cargo handling centers in the world. minimum, although that was before the global economic slowdown). Currently, it offers container train service at least twice daily from Hamburg to Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, loading between 70 and 80 TEUs per train. “We have improved our inland terminal facilities in Poland with modern reach-stackers, gantry cranes and tractor-trailer combinations,” notes CEO Walter Schulze-Freyberg. A major factor promoting Polzug has been the “disappearance” of borders among many of the countries it services and the ability to deliver containerized cargo as far as Central Asia. The plan is ultimately to go into China. With differences in track gauge into Russia, equipment specifications and border-crossing procedures en route, extending rail corridors to China poses challenges. To test the viability earlier this year, Polzug ran a “demonstration train” from Beijing to Hamburg. “Border-crossing procedures, which are the main obstacle, were modiﬁed for this special train,” explains Schulze-Freyberg. “However, we did learn that in the future, if we ﬁnd a solution for lean border management, trains could run as fast as 12-13 days from Beijing to Hamburg.” For the time being, of course, Hamburg is coping with the global economic contraction. Most of Europe ofﬁcially fell into recession in by late 2008 (the ﬁrst time ever for the euro zone); U.S. consumers and companies are showing accumulating signs of distress; China is re-grouping. This shows up in the Port’s trafﬁc. After surging better than 11.5 percent in 2007 largely on the strength of strong growth with Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia, Port CEO Walter Schulze-Freyburg conceded that 2008 numbers would be soft— but even that is relative, since he projected growth would ‘only’ be in single digits (after seven consecutive years of doubledigit growth). Still, conditions deteriorate. Freight rates in the Asia-Europe trades have crashed to record lows as consumer demand continues to crumble. A 20-foot container can now be shipped from Hong Kong to Hamburg for as little as $350, excluding surcharges, compared with around $1,400 per TEU last summer. Even in the face of such dire circumstances, however, there is still plenty of cargo moving around the world. Shipping hasn’t stopped. Clarkson Research, which tracks supply and demand growth, now expects trade to be up by just 6.8 percent in 2008. In isolation, this looks quite good, but is way down from the ﬁgure of more than 11 percent that was being projected this time last year, and largely reﬂects the collapse in Asia-Europe growth that is now close to zero. “The volumes are not there,” recently admitted Dr. Jurgen Sorgenfrei, Chairman of the Hamburg Port Marketing. “But we believe that’s merely a temporary fact.” WT For reprints of this article, please contact Cindy Williams at williamsc@bnpmedia.com or 610-436-4220 ext. 8516.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - January 2009

World Trade - January 2009 Contents Supply Chain Finance Conference: The Right Stuff at the Right Time! Is the Dollar's 'Exorbitant Privelege' as the Global Standard at Risk? Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds The Rise of the 4PL An Evolving Tech Backbone Makes 4PL Service More Effective The Changing Landscape of U.S. Railroads Intermodal Grows Up Port of Hamburg Grows as Distribution Point to Eastern Europe Outsourcing Without Fear Measuring the Carbon Footprint

World Trade - January 2009

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