Hamburg, 23 July 2010 - Despite the economic crisis, the port railway has proven a reliable performer in the port of Hamburg. The good connections into the southern, eastern and south-eastern European hinterland ensured that in the first six months of this year, rail freight handling volumes were on track to reach the record levels of 2008.

 
Axel Gedaschko, Minister for Economic and Labour Affairs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: "Hamburg's hinterland rail connections are the best in Europe, they are reliable and well structured. The railway is an environmentally friendly mode of transport to move seaborne cargo into the European inland, and ship owners appreciate that. The port railway made optimum use of the funds from the federal stimulus package. The projects submitted for approval have been implemented fast and efficiently. EUR 16 million have already been called off and used for construction purposes - investments that benefit the entire German economy. About 14 per cent of all rail freight transports in Germany start or end in the port of Hamburg."

"Even in the crisis year of 2009, we managed to increase our share of transport volumes not only within the port of Hamburg, but compared with the other North Range ports too," so Jens Meier, managing director of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA).

In 2008, the port railway moved 1.8 million standard containers (TEU) through Hamburg, whereby the total number of containers put through the port stood at 9.7 million TEU. Even during the crisis year, the percentage of rail cargo in Hamburg increased compared with truck, feeder and inland barge transports. Of 7.1 million TEU, roughly 1.6 million TEU were carried by rail. The economic upturn this year fully benefits the port railway. Even though the total volumes handled in the port of Hamburg will not quite reach 2008 levels, the port railway is on the way to repeat the success of the record year. "The impact of our investments can be felt. In the past two years, we eliminated the bottlenecks," says Meier.

Since 2008, the Hamburg Port Authority has invested EUR 64 million in maintaining and optimising the facilities - from tracks and switches to modern IT control systems. Simultaneously, port rail yards were expanded and a charging system was introduced that rewards cost-efficient and optimised performance of the railway. Of the 77 train operating companies (EVU) using the port of Hamburg today, those that process their trains fast pay lower fees than EVUs that block important access tracks. At the same time, the new system promotes the formation of longer trains that transport more cargo per each trip from or to the hinterland, which benefits the environment. The system has been operating successfully, which is evident in better wagon and train utilisation rates.

Not only did the share of different modes of transports from and to the port of Hamburg - the so-called modal split - develop in favour of the railway, but Hamburg was also able to gain rail freight market share within the North Range ports and increase its lead as Europe's largest rail port.