EUROGATE's port of Hamburg terminal suffered a 25 per cent drop in
container throughput in 2017 on the back of a loss of customers caused
by Hanjin Shipping's demise and the restructuring of mega shipping
alliance calls.

On the other hand, container volumes at Eurogate's other German ports
of Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven rose last year on account of the new
alliances.

Over at Hamburg, the loss of customers pulled its overall German
volume down by 5.5 per cent. It also affected the group's 12 locations
in and around Europe where throughput decreased by 1.4 per cent to
14.4 million TEU in 2017, reported IHS Media.

Eurogate's loss was Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG's (HHLA's) gain as
the port of Hamburg's main terminal operator registered an eight per
cent increase in container volume year over year at its three
terminals to 7.2 million TEU. Asia volume handled at HHLA rose by 15
per cent in the wake of the alliance reshuffle, leaving the three
terminals in Hamburg with a 78 per cent market share.

In a note to investors HHLA board chairwoman Angela Titzrath said: "In
the wake of new syndicate structures, it was important to consolidate
our existing business relationships with shipping companies.

"Cargo finds its own way. To ensure that it continues to pass through
Hamburg, we constantly invest in our facilities. We have purchased
state-of-the-art gantry cranes and storage technology to ensure we are
well equipped to handle ships with capacities of more than 20,000
TEU."

Ms Titzrath said dredging work on the Elbe river would start soon and
enable mega ships to call at Hamburg fully loaded, which would
"provide greater planning certainty for HHLA and its clients and
strengthen the port of Hamburg's competitive position."

When it comes to the landside logistics in Europe, HHLA and Eurogate
are expanding their activity. Eurogate's intermodal volume grew 5.2
per cent to one million TEU in 2017, a figure that is seven per cent
of the group's total container handling.

During 2017 HHLA merged its intermodal subsidiaries Metrans and Polzug
to improve the hinterland reach and shift cargo from the road to rail,
and it has just acquired Estonia's largest container terminal,
Transiidikeskuse, in the capital city of Tallinn and will add it to
the group network.