February 13 - The Port of Hamburg, Germany, saw its total cargo throughput marginally decline over the course of 2012.

Total seaborne cargo throughput at the gateway reached 130.9 million tons (118.8 million tonnes) - down one percent year-on-year compared to 2011.

Bulk cargo throughput for 2012 was 39.4 million tons (34.8 million tonnes), a marginal fall of 0.4 percent year-on-year. General cargo throughput stood at 91.5 million tons (83 million tonnes) for the year, a 1.4 percent decline over the 2011 figure.

Non-containerised cargo at 2.1 million tons (1.9 million tonnes) was 15.6 percent lower in 2012 than in 2011. Exports of conventional cargo grew by 0.1 percent to 1.4 million tons (1.27 million tonnes) due to added demand for vehicles and paper. However, imports of said cargoes declined by 34.6 percent to 730,000 tons (662,244 tonnes).

Container handling at the gateway fell by 1.7 percent year-on-year in 2012 to 8.9 million teu, consolidating the Port of Hamburg's position as Europe's second-largest container terminal and 14th largest worldwide.

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