We must not go back to the remote 2005, as in the case of the port of Bremen/Bremerhaven ( of 22 August 2023), to trace a traffic volume of less than the one enlivened in the second quarter of 2023. However, also for the other main German port, Hamburg, the trend of decreasing the volume of loads has been underway for many now years and continued also in the period April-June of this year when, with about 30.1 million tons, it is was recorded a decrease of -2% regarding over 30,6 million tons handled in the same quarter of 2022.

Moreover, if the figure for the second quarter of 2023 is -4% lower than in the corresponding period of 2021 when The airport was affected by the effects on the economy and mobility of the global Covid-19 pandemic and is +3% higher compared to the second quarter of 2020 when the impact of the crisis health was much more accentuated, but it turns out lower than that enlivened in the second quarters of a long series of previous years so that to find a volume of traffic lower we have to go back to 2010 when on the docks of Hamburg 28.6 million tons were handled.

This prolonged negative trend affected all flows of the main product categories dealt with by the Hanseatic port of call with some exceptions for some types of bulk. In particular, the only segment of containers, which totals the two thirds of total traffic, archived the second quarter of this year with 20.1 million tons, with a decrease of -5% on the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of -6% on the second trimester of 2021, an increment of +2% on the second trimester of the 2020 and a reduction of -17% on the second trimester of the year pre-pandemic of 2019. In terms of twenty-foot containers, the traffic in the second quarter of 2023 amounted to 1.9 million of teu (-12%, -10%, -1% and -20%). Almost the same the evolution of the flow of other miscellaneous goods which have totaled about 300 thousand tons (respectively -25%, -12%, +15% and -17%).

In the liquid bulk segment, 2.7 million tonnes, a volume that represents a marked growth of +24% on the second trimester of 2022 and decreases of -9%, -9% and -15% on the same periods as the previous three years. The number of dry bulk which, with 7.0 million tonnes, recorded increases of +3%, +7% and +13% on the second quarters of 2022, 2021 and 2020 and a decrease of -3% on the second quarter of 2019.

Taking into account the entire first half of 2023, To find a lower volume of traffic you have to go back to the Far back in 2009. In the first six months of this year, in fact, they were 58.2 million tons of goods handled, with decreases -5.8%, -8.4%, -4.9% and -16.4% respectively on the first semesters of 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.