Hamburg’s port railway transports record volume
Having transported 34.8 million tonnes of goods, Hamburg’s port railway was able to significantly increase its cargo volume in the first nine months of 2018. Container transport showed again record volumes: container traffic by rail in the Port of Hamburg has risen by 4.3 per cent since the beginning of this year: With around 625,000 TEU, a record result was achieved in container traffic in the third quarter of the year 2018.
For the full year 2018, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) expects more than 2.4 million TEUs for the first time. The port railway’s share in the modal split in container hinterland traffic was boosted by this positive development and increased to 44.9 per cent in the first nine months. In the same period of the previous year, the value was 42.5 per cent.
“A key to the success of out port railway is its continuously increased efficiency. For example, the average capacity of the trains operating on the tracks of the port railway has reached a new record level this year with 74 standard containers per train,” says Jens Meier, CEO of the HPA. The increased efficiency can also be seen from the growing number of waggons. In 2018, the average train length in the harbour area increased from 609 to 620 meters. The number of trains that are more than 700 meters long has also increased in container traffic compared to the previous year, and is now 14 per cent. Last year, these trains made eleven per cent of the total trips.
The HPA wants to further increase the efficiency of the port railway in the future. This should be achieved, among other things, through innovative technology. Thus, after an extensive test phase, the Rail Data Gate in the port is about to be launched. Fully automatic detectors were installed in two places in the port. They provide real-time information about the weight of the waggons, wrong waggons, overloaded waggons and other things. Harald Kreft, Head of Railway Infrastructure at the HPA, says: “These data enable us to improve our rail operations and make them even more efficient.”But also other stakeholders in rail logistics and the maritime industry can benefit from the additional information provided when planning and scheduling their traffic.”
Port Railway – Facts and Figures
- The Port of Hamburg is Europe’s largest freight railway terminal handling more than 1,200 trains per week.
- The port railway consists of about 300 kilometres of tracks in the port area.
- In 2017, almost as many containers were transported by rail in Hamburg (2.3 million TEU) as in Rotterdam (915,000 TEU), Antwerp (476,000 TEU) and BremenPorts (1.13 million TEU) together (totalling 2.525 million TEU).
- The tracks of the port railway are currently being used by around 140 railway companies.
- Hamburg’s port railway was established in 1866.