Mixed bag of results for European ports in 2018
Last year, the EU’s 15 most important container handling ports grew by 4.8% in teu terms (2017: 4.6% after 2% in 2016). Among the top 15 ports, Gdansk recorded the highest increase (+23.3%), followed by Piraeus (20.9%) and Barcelona (15.3%).The teu throughput remained solid in Le Havre.
Gioia Tauro, in southern Italy, noted a 6% decrease. More modest decreases were seen in Bremerhaven (-1.3%), Hamburg (-1%) and Genoa (-0.5%). As in recent years, Europe’s top two ports remained on a solid growth trajectory: Rotterdam (5.7%) lifted 14.5 million teu and Antwerp (6.2%) 11 million teu.
Upward climbers included Valencia with 5.1 million teu and a 5.6% increase, taking it to fifth place in the EU, Algeciras came in seventh, with 4.8 million teu (8.9%) and Barcelona, thanks to its strong increase (see above), overshot the Maltese port of Marsaxlokk, with 3.4 million teu. (kd)