Despite the sharp setback in the last quarter of the year, in the whole of 2023 the traffic of goods in ports Swiss francs on the Rhine grew by +8.1% to 4.97 million tonnes compared to 4.60 million tonnes in 2022. Port of Switzerland, the company that manages the airports Rhine rivers in Switzerland, specified that the increase is was mainly driven by the replenishment of petroleum products reduced significantly in 2022. The company specified that the +8.1% increase recorded in 2023 is However, it fell short of expectations and that, after an increase of +20.0% of traffic recorded in the first nine months of the year, in the fourth Quarter: A persistent period of low water levels followed by floods prevented a better outcome. In addition, the container sector, but also the materials sector construction, vehicles and machinery, have suffered the weakening of economies caused by conflicts, inflation and rising prices.

In 2023 as a whole, the traffic of petroleum products, which represents half of the total handled, 2.47 million tonnes, with a significant increase in the by +44.3% on the previous year. Among other major volumes of traffic, last year the trafficking of stones, earth and materials from construction amounted to 766 thousand tons (-8.6%), of vehicles and machinery to 467 thousand tons (-19.0%), traffic of food products to 355 thousand tons (-20.1%), the traffic of iron, steel and non-ferrous metals at 221 thousand tons (-17.9%) and that of minerals and metal waste to 219 thousand tons (+22,4%). This is followed by the volumes of chemical products with 179 thousand tons (-7.7%), of agricultural products with 167 thousand tons (-42.0%), fertilizers with 104 thousand tons (+24.3%) and solid mineral fuels with 22 thousand tons /(+34.2%). In the Container sector: traffic amounted to 109 thousand TEUs (-13,4%).

In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, overall traffic was 1.09 million tonnes, a decrease of -20.2% compared to the same period of the previous year, of which 895 thousand tons in imports (-20.6%) and 197 thousand tons in exports (-18,3%). Containers amounted to 24 thousand TEUs (-16.7%).