BDB: New key figures folder of German river shipping
Cargo transport on German rivers has slightly declined in 2011 – container traffic remained stable
The Federal Association of German Inland Water Transportation (Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschiffahrt e.V. – BDB) has published the key figures of the river shipping industry in its current issue of the statistic facts & figures-folder.
According to the BDB folder a total of 222 million tonnes of goods was transported on German waterways in 2011. This means cargo transport declined 3.3 per cent compared with last year. The main reasons for this decline were the four weeks-obstruction in the beginning of this year, resulting in a temporary complete closure of the Rhine due to a ship accident, and low water levels of the Rhine and more rivers in spring and autumn 2011. While German domestic cargo transport on the waterway declined, transit volumes experienced a particular decline of -16.5 %.
Traditionally strong bulk goods such as coal, ores, stones, earth and sand or cocking and mineral oil products, combined with chemical products account for about 70 per cent of the cargo transport on the waterway. These segments experienced only moderate volume declines compared with last year. Container transport remained almost stable in 2011 at 2.2 millon. The Rhine area (187.4 million tonnes of goods) and the west German channel area (39.3 million tonnes of goods) registered the biggest volumes. In 2011 high volumes were also registered in the Mittelland Canal region (21.3 million tonnes), Main (15.5 million tonnes), Moselle (12.7 million tonnes) and the Elbe river (16.4 million tonnes; 9.2 million tonnes thereof on the Elbe side channel).
The strength of the German river shipping fleet remained almost stable: As per 31 December 2011 the German register of shipping showed 2,225 ships for the transport of dry and liquid goods, as well as 94 bunker boats and 419 tugboats and pushing boats. At the survey date 30 June 2010 there were 970 German enterprises active in the river shipping industry (2009: 1,023). These companies generated turnover of EUR 1.32 billion in 2010 (2009: EUR 1.27 billion). The number of employees declined from 7,470 to 7,292 persons in 2011.
Quelle: LogEastics
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