Hamburg Port Expects ‘Drastic’ Russia Sea Trade Downturn in 2015

By Nicholas Brautlecht

(Bloomberg) — Hamburg authorities count on the decline in seaborne commerce with Russia to speed up this yr as a lagging impression of the weak ruble cripples commerce with the port’s second- largest companion.

With Russian automobile gross sales tumbling by 1 / 4 in January, a supervisor of Germany’s largest harbor mentioned exports have been significantly hit by slowing demand for European automotive components.

“Transport of automobile components from Europe to Russia has almost come to a standstill as Russia’s authorities needs to chop down on imports to spice up its personal trade and as Russians merely lack the cash to purchase automobiles,´´ Axel Mattern, a Hamburg Port Marketing board member, mentioned in an interview.

The hunch in crude oil costs and sanctions over Ukraine have dragged Russia towards its first financial contraction since 2009. Seaborne commerce between Hamburg, Europe’s second-biggest container port after Rotterdam, and Russia dropped 7.8 % to 662,000 normal packing containers final yr.

‘‘Sea transport is hit with a time lag, as we have certain order periods and while Russian firms still ordered abroad last year, they can’t try this anymore,” Mattern mentioned. “We count on a drastic decline in Russia commerce this yr.´´

Hamburg, whose largest terminal operator is Hamburger Hafen & Logistik AG, serves as a serious switch hub by way of which containers carried by deep-sea ships from Asia are reloaded on to smaller feeder vessels destined for Baltic Sea ports, together with St. Petersburg.

Canned Food

Goods exported to Russia from Hamburg embody meat, automobiles components, canned meals, milk merchandise and metals, whereas coal, crude oil, paper and chemical merchandise are imported.

A 9.8 % rise in commerce with China, Hamburg’s prime buying and selling companion, helped compensate for the Russian decline final yr. The port dealt with 2.97 million containers shipped from or to Chinese ports, serving to to spice up Hamburg’s complete container quantity by 5.1 % to 9.7 million normal packing containers, or TEUs.

This yr, Hamburg expects container site visitors to achieve the 10-million TEU mark, which might eclipse a 2007 document of 9.9 million, in response to port figures.

Total seaborne cargo volumes already hit an all-time excessive final yr, rising 4.8 % to 145.7 million metric tons, the harbor mentioned in the present day.