Port Economics: Portgraphic for top-20 EU container ports - Piraeus among top performers

The PortGraphic shows the container throughput growth for Q1 2018 in the top 20 EU container ports. Not all ports have published figures for Q1 2018 yet.

Most ports show healthy growth with many ports reaching double-digit growth. Top performers include Gdansk (+47%!), Piraeus, Barcelona & Zeebrugge. Valencia, Algeciras & Piraeus are contending for the number one spot in the (European) Med.

Europe’s largest container ports, Rotterdam and Antwerp, remain on the strong growth paths of the past few years, while Hamburg and Bremerhaven continue to lose ground. Wilhelmshaven (opened in 2012) is the only German port recording a healthy growth: +99.7% in Q1 2018 with 554,000 TEU handled in 2017.

Volumes in Italian gateway ports Genoa and La Spezia are up, while transhipment hub Gioia Tauro faced another traffic decline after a throughput drop of 12.46% in 2017.

The growth differences among individual ports are caused by differences in the economic situation of the hinterland regions served, the dynamics in the routing decisions of the large shipping alliances and the volatility in the sea-sea transhipment market.