THE Port of Hamburg, cut off from its usual trade with Russia, suffered a 6.9 per cent decline in container throughput to 7.7 million TEU in 2023, reports London's Port Technology.

※The decline is primarily due to the difficult geopolitical and economic situation that we all are facing,§ said port CEO Axel Mattern

※But we are on the same level as our northern European competitors and are holding our own well compared to other ports," he said.

Throughput fell by as much as 11.7 per cent compared to the same time the previous year.

The terminals at the Port of Hamburg handled a total of 114.3 million tonnes of cargo last year. Thus, seaborne freight throughput has fallen 4.7 per cent over the previous year.

According to the port, traffic in the US has risen steadily in recent years. In 2023, the Port of Hamburg handled 653,000 TEU with what has now become its second-largest trading partner. This is an increase of eight per cent over 2022 levels.

Throughput with India also increased 5.6 per cent to 191,000 TEU. As a result, India reportedly became the seventh most significant commercial partner for the Port of Hamburg.

China continues to top the list, with 2.2 million TEU handled in 2023.