GERMANY's Port of Hamburg posted a 13.6 per cent first quarter year-on-year increase in container volume by rail to 690,000 TEU.
The growth in rail volume was mainly due to the four new transatlantic liner services connecting Hamburg with the US, Canada and Mexico, and new block train services, said the port.
'The Port of Hamburg is Europe's leading rail port. Against the backdrop of overloaded roads and the desire for the most environment-friendly freight transport possible, in the coming years, rail will gain in importance in seaport-hinterland transport,' said the port authority statement.
'To be well prepared for growth in freight quantities, it is not enough for the ports alone to invest in developing and modernising, as well as in digitalising its infrastructure,' it said.
In the first three months of the year, a total of 12.5 million tonnes of freight were transported by rail between the Port of Hamburg and destinations within Germany and Europe - an increase of 7.7 per cent over the same period last year.
'Both the rail network and the inland handling terminals have to have both their performance and capacity upgraded for the additional freight volumes,' said Port of Hamburg Marketing joint CEO Axel Mattern.
In excess of 200 freight trains daily utilise the approximately 300 kilometres of rail network of Hamburg Port Railway and the large number of industrial sidings in the port.
More than 5,000 freight railcars are positioned everyday either in blocks or individually in the handling terminals and industrial premises. The number of rail transport operators utilising this widespread rail network has risen in recent years to more than 150 companies.
In all, some 2,100 marketed container train services to and from Hamburg are on offer to the commercial shippers. This includes more than 200 container train services to destinations in China.
WORLD SHIPPING
The growth in rail volume was mainly due to the four new transatlantic liner services connecting Hamburg with the US, Canada and Mexico, and new block train services, said the port.
'The Port of Hamburg is Europe's leading rail port. Against the backdrop of overloaded roads and the desire for the most environment-friendly freight transport possible, in the coming years, rail will gain in importance in seaport-hinterland transport,' said the port authority statement.
'To be well prepared for growth in freight quantities, it is not enough for the ports alone to invest in developing and modernising, as well as in digitalising its infrastructure,' it said.
In the first three months of the year, a total of 12.5 million tonnes of freight were transported by rail between the Port of Hamburg and destinations within Germany and Europe - an increase of 7.7 per cent over the same period last year.
'Both the rail network and the inland handling terminals have to have both their performance and capacity upgraded for the additional freight volumes,' said Port of Hamburg Marketing joint CEO Axel Mattern.
In excess of 200 freight trains daily utilise the approximately 300 kilometres of rail network of Hamburg Port Railway and the large number of industrial sidings in the port.
More than 5,000 freight railcars are positioned everyday either in blocks or individually in the handling terminals and industrial premises. The number of rail transport operators utilising this widespread rail network has risen in recent years to more than 150 companies.
In all, some 2,100 marketed container train services to and from Hamburg are on offer to the commercial shippers. This includes more than 200 container train services to destinations in China.
WORLD SHIPPING