European ports important container hubs in Europe, which are key points for the global supply chain industry. The container sector is increasingly developing in the majority of European ports in the latest years, enhancing the competitiveness between neighboring hubs.
Container News has compiled container volume data for 2022 and presents the list of the busiest container ports in Europe for the last year.but Maritime Tickers chose 5 only from top 10 of the list
Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands – 14.4 million TEUs (-5.5%)
The Port of Rotterdam remains at the first spot of the European container ports for another year, nearing 14.5 million TEUs in 2022. The overall cargo throughput of the Dutch port remained unchanged in the previous year, reaching around 468 million metric tonnes.
Meanwhile, the major European port achieved improved financial results in the last year, with revenue rising by 6.9% to US$876 million, operating results before interest, depreciation and taxes (EBITDA) increasing by 6.1% to US$576 million, but net result remaining unchanged at US$262.3 million.
A year after the opening of the Container Exchange Route (CER), the project is entering a new phase. The Port of Rotterdam Authority (PoR) will expand the CER next year with connections to the Distripark Maasvlakte and the ECT Delta terminal/Hutchison Port Delta II terminal via a main-gate concept. Investments will also be made in the installation of fibre optic and electrical infrastructure. Work will commence in early 2025 and will be completed in phases by the end of 2025.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Belgium – 13.5 million TEUs (-5.2%)
In second place we find the port Antwerp-Bruges which handled 13.5 million TEUs with its container traffic falling by 5.2% compared to 2021 figures.
It is important to note that the two Belgian ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge completed their merger in April 2022 with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges officially commencing operations.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges, and in particular Zeebrugge, is a hub for United Kingdom traffic: every week more than 70 scheduled services connect Antwerp and Zeebrugge with various regions in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This allows us to offer tailor-made solutions for just-in-time provisioning to the British markets.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges offers weekly fixed short sea and feeder services from and to 200 destinations in Europe, North Africa and the United Kingdom. The extensive network of frequent short sea and feeder connections from Antwerp and Zeebrugge ensures rapid transit times.
Short sea shipping offers a larger transport capacity than road transport, thereby reducing the costs per unit load. Via Port of Antwerp-Bruges, ships load or unload their short sea cargo closer to the major European centres of consumption and production.
Port of Hamburg, Germany – 8.3 million TEUs in 2022 (-5.1%)
Germany’s major port is on the podium with 8.3 million TEUs from January to December 2022, despite the 5.1% year-on-year decrease.
There was no such gap between the Hamburg port’s imports and exports in the previous year. The German port reported 4.2 million import TEUs and 4.1 million export TEUs, which fell by 6.1% and 4.1%, respectively.
Truck access at Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG’s (HHLA) Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) in Hamburg is now fully digitalised and managed via the passify app. With the launch of the app,
HHLA is replacing the trucker card that had previously been in use at all of its Hamburg terminals, thus making truck handling more secure and efficient. Since the go-live at the beginning of the year, more than 200,000 arrivals have already been processed using passify at HHLA’s three Hamburg terminals.
It is important to note the final recent agreement between the Port of Hamburg and COSCO about a minority stake acquisition in Container Terminal Tollerort GmbH (CTT) by the Chinese shipping giant, which caused some concerns in the German government over China’s impact on the country’s port industry.
Port of Valencia, Spain – 5.1 million TEUs in 2022 (-9.4%)
In fourth place, the Port of Valencia handled 5.1 million TEUs in 2022 seeing its box volumes decreased by 9.4% compared to the previous year’s levels.
The number of transit containers in Valencia in 2022 fell by 16.91% to 2,059,665 units, while the number of empty boxes was down 5.54%.
In the same period, 79,365,321 tonnes of products were shipped via the Spanish port, translating to a 6.92% decline.2411-Statistical-Report-November-2024
The Port of Valencia also has regular passenger traffic to and from the Balearic Islands and Italy. In recent years the Port of Valencia has experienced a continued and solid growth in Mediterranean cruise traffic.
 Port of Piraeus, Greece – 5 million TEUs in 2022 (-6.0%)
The Port of Piraeus handled 5 million TEUs in 2022 and remained in fifth place of the European container port ranking despite the year-on-year 6% decrease.
On the other hand, Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) reported improved financial results for the previous year, reporting a 26.2% rise in its turnover reaching US$208 million.
It is noteworthy that the Greek port has achieved immense growth in the latest years after COSCO’s acquisition of the majority stake in the port back in 2016. In particular, Port of Piraeus has marked an astonishing 264% container growth from 2007 to 2022, but there was an 11.5% container decrease in the last three years, according to Port Economics.
Source : Container News
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