Low waters leaving their mark on the Rhine
For 9M/2022, the Swiss Rhine ports (SRH) posted a throughput result that is almost a quarter (24.5%) behind the comparable period in 2021. In addition to the effects of the war in Ukraine, traffic flows were held back by the prolonged period of low water in late summer. This led to a decline of almost 50% in the import of mineral oil products, the strongest goods segment in terms of volume.
A total of 3.23 million t of freight crossed the quays at the Swiss Rhine ports in the first three quarters of 2022 (9M/2021: 4.28 million t). The container segment was able to achieve an increase of over 4% compared to the same period of the previous year, with over 97,000 teu being handled on the river in all Rhine port terminals.
"Pure" import traffic (full containers) grew by a good 6% compared to the same period of the previous year, with a total of over 34,500 teu, while export traffic excluding empty containers remained constant compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching almost 32,500 teu. (sh)