Ports record better times in 2010

Driven by container and dry bulk volumes, Marseilles Fos handled 86m tonnes last year, a 3% increase on 2009 despite lengthy nationwide strikes over the French government’s reforms.


Container traffic grew 9% to 953,435 teu, although strike diversions cost the port 107,000 teu, causing it to miss its million teu target with, and the Fos deep-sea terminal bearing the brunt of the strike action where throughput rose by only 2%. Intra-Mediterranean trades via the Marseilles harbour area handled 251,000 teu, a 34% increase.


Annual turnover at the Port rose 2.3% to €175m despite income losses of €3m due to the port’s oil refinery cutbacks and €4m as a result of the strikes. Infrastructure investment fell to €74m (€130m - 2009) as the port completed its share of works on the Fos 2XL container development, which will create two privately operated terminals.


Gulftainer


Sharjah-based terminal and logistics company Gulftainer repeated its 2009 performance, when throughput increased by 10% at a time when container terminals globally were affected by the economic downturn. Volumes at the company's UAE facilities at Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) and Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) increased by another 10% to just over 3m teu.


Managing director, Peter Richards said that the MENA region weathered the storm better than many others in 2010, with trading volumes and regional economies looking forward once again with more confidence, supporting the company’s decision to expand its facilities, particularly at Khorfakkan.


“As this area with the GCC economies and particularly Iraq gathering momentum, and the wider region – India, Pakistan, Africa - accelerating out of the recession, we are confident that our facilities and commitment in KCT, SCT, Ruwais in Abu Dhabi and now Umm Qasr, Iraq will be ideally placed to benefit and to assist those economies of which they are an integral part," he said.


Port of Vladivostok


The Port of Vladivostok saw total cargo handling volumes during 2010 amount to more than 6.9m tonnes, up 11% compared to the previous year, with container volumes reaching a total of 338,893 teu as the port witnessed a dramatic change in cargo flow in favour of containers.


With the port expecting to handle around 400,000 teu this year (2011), director general, Vyatcheslav Pertsev, envisages that as a result of its development strategy, which includes redeveloping several cargo berths into dedicated container terminals, the port is expected to handle 650,000 teu by 2015.


South Carolina Ports


The Port of Charleston closed 2010 with a 16.9% increase in container volume for the calendar year, with 793,090 teu being handled compared to 678,715 teu in 2009.


“While we have tempered expectations on near-term volume growth, South Carolina’s ports are positioned to continue the upward trend in 2011,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina State Ports Authority (SCSPA).


Breakbulk tonnage at the two ports of Charleston and Georgetown was up 27% at 876,852 tonnes, while non-containerised cargo rose 36.5% for the first six months of the fiscal year.


Eurogate


The Eurogate container terminal operator group recorded a 5.2% increase in its pan-European container handling volumes for 2010, handling 600,000 teu more than 2009 bringing the total to 12.6m teu.


Its Bremerhaven location recorded a rise of 7.4% to 4.9m teu, although in Hamburg, the previous year’s volume was narrowly missed due to a decline of 0.9%. The group’s Italian terminals handled a total of 4.7m teu, just under 1%, with Eurogate Tanger in Morocco showing what the group called, “an especially encouraging volume trend” recording a 56.3% increase in container handling volume to over 680,000 teu.


Port of Gothenburg


Last year was a good year for the Port of Gothenburg, with the recovery that commenced during the latter half of 2009 continuing, resulting in tonnage increasing by 11% to almost 44m tonnes.


In total, 880,000 teu were shipped through the port, a rise of 8% on the previous year and a new record for container volumes.


"The recovery in the economy is reflected very clearly in the volumes for 2010. We are retaining and reinforcing our position as the foremost freight hub in the Nordic region," states Magnus Kårestedt, chief executive of the Port of Gothenburg.


Port of Halifax


Although not providing tonnage figures, the Halifax Port Authority also experienced steady growth in cargo volumes in 2010, with containerised cargo growing 26% over 2009 as a result of the arrival of new shipping lines, more frequent port calls and more cargo with existing lines, plus expanded trade routes.


Port of Melbourne


Trade through the Port of Melbourne for 2010 surged to record heights with stronger


than expected growth in the port's core trades of containers and new motor vehicles. Overall trade of 78.8m tonnes, an increase of 13.2%, was


boosted by a record container throughput of 2.348m teu representing a 12.6% increase over the same period in 2009.


The platform for the strong trade performance was set when container volumes grew at an average monthly rate of 15.8% during the six months from January to June, the strongest ever result for that period.


In the second half year, the Port recorded four separate months where


container throughput exceeded 200,000 teu, including a national record of over 217,000 teu in October.


CEO Stephen Bradford, said, "Trade through the Port of Melbourne remained resilient during the global financial crisis but the


strong rebound across almost all cargo types has exceeded our expectations”.


Metro Vancouver


Year-end results reported for Port Metro, Vancouver saw total cargo increase 16% from 2009 to 118.4m tonnes last year. Foreign trade alone increased 18% to 93.5m tonnes thanks in part to increased exports to Asia and record shipments of coal and grain. The port's domestic trade also grew, by 10% to 25.1m tonnes.


Container traffic reached an all time record at 2.5m teu, up 17% from 2009, thanks to continued Canadian demand for imported consumer goods and rebounding shipments to Asia of containerised forest products and special crops.


Port of Kiel


The Port of Kiel has built on its pre-crisis growth, handling 5.8m tonnes during 2010, the best results ever recorded by the port. This was a 19.3% increase over the previous year and considerably more than the 5.3m tonnes handled in 2007, the


year before the economic downturn.


Some 26,000 teu were handled in the container sector, with around 10,000 teu containing supplements used in the manufacture of steel coming from Kazakhstan via Riga, which were then transported by block train to western German, although this trade has since been withdrawn and is now handled by Rotterdam.


In an attempt to attract further trade, the port tariffs are to remain unchanged during 2011, with the port saying that it will not introduce a new tariff structure until January 2012.


Port of Savannah


2010 was also the best year for the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) where container traffic at the Port of Savannah reached a record 2.8m teu, up 19.6% and beating the previous record set in 2008.


Exports outpaced imports, accounting for 1.48m teu or 52.8% of Savannah's total throughput. Frozen poultry alone generates more than 1,000 container loads a week, according to the GPA.


Port of Long Beach


Containerised cargo at the Port of Long Beach increased by 1.2m units, the largest single increase of any seaport in the United States.


Port shipping terminals moved a total of 6.3m teu, this jump representing a 25% gain over 2009, the largest one-year increase in Port’s history.


"This was a tremendous rebound, and happened much faster than predicted," said Port of Long Beach executive director, Richard Steinke.


For the year, overall container moves increased 23.6%, almost recovering losses experienced in 2009. The 1.2m teu increase marks the biggest one-year jump since 1971 when the Port leased its first container terminal. The previous record was in 2004, when cargo volume increased by 1.1m teu.


Port of Tacoma


Strong intermodal activity led the Port of Tacoma's cargo results lifting by 19% over 2009 levels. The increase was seen across all aspects of the Port's intermodal rail business - international imports, exports, short-haul rail (up to 400 miles) and the domestic intermodal rail business.


The Port finished 2010 with a container total of 1.46m teu, down 6% from 2009 volumes. A number of developments during the year, including "K" Line introducing larger ships and Evergreen resuming its UAM service, helped the Port's second half teu performance outpace its first half by 7%. The Port expects 2011 container volumes to increase over 2010 volumes by 4%.


TransContainer


Russia’s Open Joint Stock company TransContainer saw significant increases for the full year 2010, with results showing a continuing improvement reflecting the overall market recovery. The company’s terminal-handling volumes amounted to 1.5m teu, an increase of 139,000 teu (9.5%).
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