Directly to the Pearl river delta
A convincing financial result for 2019 laid a good basis for Duisport to face this very challenging year. The inland port is sticking to its investment plans – despite declining freight volumes.
Duisport Group CEO Erich Staake answered the most pressing question first during the firm’s annual media conference –held online for the first time. “The Duisport Group is so well positioned that our business model is not being questioned. We’re completely functional.” Keeping an eye on costs and maintaining and improving efficiency naturally remain very important, especially in the current overall situation, but “we’re not about to cancel any investments. We expect total economic output to decline by around 10% in 2020,” was Staake’s – optimistic and bleak – assessment of the situation. Value chains will be put to a severe test in many industries, but he doesn’t expect a significant reversal of the global division of labour.
2019’s improved result as a good basis
Duisport’s consolidated figures show that the German corporation achieved sales of EUR 292.6 million in 2019, an increase of 5.1%, or EUR 14.1 million. Its ebitda rose by 2.1% to EUR 43.4 million. Its net income improved by 6.8% to EUR 13 million. Total throughput decreased by 6.5% to 61.1 million t, however. “We won’t be in a position to increase this again in 2020,” according to Staake.
Duisport, the most important coal-handling port, has been heavily affected by new energy policies, and “restructuring will perhaps be as massive as that experienced at the end of the 1990s.” In this context Staake called on politicians to ensure that inland barges and the railways don’t slip too far behind road haulage – which is currently very cheap – in the intermodal split. He simultaneously also reminded shippers not to “carelessly trigger the closure of many transport or forwarding enterprises” by trying to apply too much pressure on prices in the current situation.
International infrastructure and investment
The good news from Duisburg includes the information that 2019’s EUR 26.4 million budget, which wasn’t completely utilised, will be used up this year. “We’d have liked to do even more,” Staake elaborated. Domestic infrastructure projects are becoming more time-consuming. “A more pragmatic approach would represent the best economic stimulus programme.” The political framework abroad, in turn, sometimes hampers progress, for example concerning projects in Turkey.
These are some projects; others are the “rather small (40 ha) but nevertheless trimodal Logport VI container terminal,” which recently welcomed DSV, and the new Logport II distribution centre. “We also have a contract in place with the Great Stone industrial and logistics park in Belarus, where our company will start connecting to major transport routes this year,” Staake added.
China traffic, so important for Duisport, wasn’t suspended, but suffered for five weeks in Q1 – also because Wuhan is a key railfreight hub. Rail services to and from China, operated by Duisport in cooperation with China Railway Container Transport, have been picking up again since March. “On top of a new link to Xi’an we’re also working on a new service to the Pearl river delta,” Staake pointed out.
There’s reason to believe that Duisport will manage to maintain the momentum of its transport activities in China, Turkey and Belarus – also during this difficult year.
