A decline in bulk handling has negatively impacted cargo volumes at the Port of Kiel, which handled more than 5.6 million tonnes of cargo in 2015; 4.2% less than in 2014.
Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel, said: “Despite the depressed bulk cargo handling, we are satisfied with the results because the port was able to hold its own in its hub business sectors.
“In addition we made some important changes in order to show grow[th] once again this year.
“The handling of paper products from North Sweden, which has already begun, will contribute to this.”
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Overall, more than 414,000 roll on/roll off (RoRo) units were loaded or unloaded in 2015 – a decline of 0.4%.
Dirk Claus continues: “The introduction of more stringent regulations to protect the environment has not resulted in the predicted drops in cargo. A low oil price helped to keep cargo levels high.
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“Long yard stays had negative one-off consequences; however most of them could be absorbed over the course of the year.”
25 different ships called with a total tonnage of more than 8.6 million gross tonnes – a 19.4% increase over 2014.
Read: Port of Kiel Maintains Handling Performance
In order to be able to process the growing volumes of cargo in good time, the Seehafen Kiel has invested in new handling technology.
The Ostuferhafen has already been provided with a high-capacity portal crane and now a comparable piece of equipment is operating at the Schwedenkai Terminal
Each of the Verona train sets has been lengthened by two waggons to increase the capacity on offer.
Dirk Claus concluded: “This year, for the first time, we want to load more than 30,000 trailers and containers onto rail.”
