Eurogate maintains course for success

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Eurogate has managed to successfully navigate through a difficult year for the maritime industry, with a net profit increase of 13.3 percent.

Germany’s largest terminal operator managed to celebrate an annual net profit of €61.9 million.

With the news comes an optimistic look towards the future as container loads continue to grow.

2013 saw the company handle a total of 14.2 million TEU, a new record since the company’s foundation, fifteen years ago. This comes as a pleasant surprise, despite a decrease in trade domestically.

On the whole, German terminals operated by Eurogate fell slightly behind the previous year’s volume by 1.2 percent. This was specifically felt at container terminals operating in Bremerhaven, where handling volumes fell by 4.7 percent.

Eurogate have hope that ports afflicted will recover alongside the growing market; Bremerhaven is already suitably equipped to handle post-Panamax vessels with no issue at all.

Furthermore, the opening of Eurogate Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven in 2012 fell considerably short of expectations with volumes only reaching 76,265 TEU.

However, Eurogate remain optimistic; like Bremerhaven, the terminal is pre-prepared for an influx of post-Panamax ships in the near future, while the P3 alliance has already announced plans to route two container line services to Germany’s only deep-water port in the coming months.

Despite a general dipping in volume, the operator’s Hamburg facility managed to stand strong and furthermore grow off of 2012 trade, increasing volume by 7.9 percent.

Such increases may be associated with the acquisition of two exclusive routes by the Zim shipping line and feeder/short sea operator Unifeeder, alongside the convenience of the Eurokombi intermodal rail station located directly adjacent to the terminal.

Nevertheless, with delays to works on adjusting the River Elbe and further projects to increase road-based connectivity, Eurogate expects to keep a close eye on operations to ensure the best outcome for 2014.

The major cause for successful growth in 2013 came from terminals located across southern Europe.

Due to an influx of larger vessels now beginning operations on transit lines, transhipment in Southern Europe has become more and more important to efficiently move high volumes of cargo to and from ports.

This shift in the market greatly benefited container terminals operated by the Contship Italia Group. MCT Medcenter Container Terminal in Giola Tauro increased volume by 12.8 percent, whilst CICT Cagliari International Container Terminal moved 11.8 percent more containers.

In fact, due to the new found stability of North Italy, overall, Contship Italia terminals managed to handle an unanticipated 11.2 percent more TEU that the previous year.

So, from these results it appears that Eurogate, and the rest of the world, are steadily beginning to crawl out from under the shadow of the economic crisis.

With future success expected at a Russian terminal holding in Ust-Luga, a greenfield investment in what will become Russia’s largest port, Eurogate is clearly hoping to feed of a recovered market as much as possible.

In an official statement,  Thomas Eckelmann, Eurogate group chairman said “Our year-end results and our sound balance sheet structure encourage us to feel confident.

“The economic environment and the start-up losses incurred as a result of the start of operations of the Eurogate Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven were difficult hurdles to be overcome on the way to achieving this good result. Our international corporate strategy with its calculated risk is what determines our path to success, he continued.”

“It is decisive in enabling us to summon up the necessary staying power for the long lead times on our greenfield projects.”

“I believe we are well-positioned for the future, despite the infrastructure challenges at a number of locations. As service providers, we are in a position to offer our customers service that meets their expectations in terms of productivity and quality at all times. The proof of this is that Eurogate in Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven are the only terminal locations in Germany where 18,000-TEU vessels are handled.”

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