May 20 - Whilst the volume of oceanfreight passing through the Port of Hamburg was significantly lower in the first quarter of 2009 than in the corresponding period of last year, heavy and over-dimensional project cargoes bucked the trend.

27.32 million tons of cargo was handled in the first quarter of 2009 - a decline of 21.7 percent in comparison with the same period last year - but the handling of general freight in regards to project and heavy lift cargoes came to 59,000 tons of imports in the first quarter of 2009 - an increase of 33.2 percent compared with the previous year's period.