Lübeck Port Company Grows Thanks to the RoRo Sector

It was an overall good year: Compared to the significant pre-Corona year 2019, the handling volumes of the Lübeck Port Company (LHG), including the rented terminals, have increased by approximately 6 percent to around 23.7 million tons according to preliminary estimates*. In this context and in the following, the comparison values for 2021/2019 are used, as a comparison with the Corona exceptional year 2020 does not seem sufficiently meaningful for the LHG.

(Lübeck) The RoRo sector has particularly increased in Lübeck, while the figures in the labor-intensive forestry products sector have continued to decline.

Compared to 2019, the number of trucks has increased significantly by about 5.5 percent (around 402,000 trucks) and trailers by about 8 percent (almost 380,000 units). The quantity of new vehicles has increased by a pleasing 25 percent (around 87,300 vehicles) with newly acquired volumes, considering a fundamental market weakness. The LHG subsidiary Baltic Rail Gate also benefited from the RoRo growth. Over 126,000 units were handled at the intermodal terminal at Skandinavienkai, setting a new record.

Passenger traffic has picked up again but has not yet reached the levels of 2019 due to existing Corona restrictions.

In the core business – forestry products, cardboard, and paper – the LHG had to accept further declines of a total of 24.6 percent (almost 1.3 million tons) as expected. The ongoing structural change in this area exceeded the already negative expectations. The positive development in the handling of cellulose and wood could only slightly compensate for the drastic loss in the labor-intensive paper segment. The structurally induced volume declines in this area will continue. Against this backdrop, it has proven strategically correct to concentrate the handling of forestry products at the Skandinavienkai and Schlutup terminals. The company will have to continue the restructuring project in all areas.

LHG Managing Director Sebastian Jürgens is overall satisfied: “The figures prove that we are on the right track with the restructuring of our company. We are particularly pleased that we have been able to seamlessly connect with the year 2019 in close cooperation with our customers and successfully increase performance further. However, there is still much to be done.”

*The LHG has decided to use the pre-Corona year 2019 as the relevant comparison figure for performance in 2021. Compared to the previous year 2020, the handling volumes compared to 2021 (in percent) were +8, RoRo sector +8.1, trucks +7.5, new vehicles +4, forestry products -19.2.

Photo: © LHG