Trend to less heavy products at Port of Krems
In 2008 the Port of Krems had been a traffic junction for river shipping on the Danube once again. Whereas in 2007 around 540 vessels had been loaded and unloaded, last year there were more then 600 units. “This equals an 11%-increase”, announced Hubert Mierka, Managing Director of Mierka Donauhafen Krems GmbH&Co KG, when speaking to the NÖ Wirtschaftspressedienst (Lower Austrian economic press agency). If there had not been a significant drop in gravel transportations in 2008, the plus would have been even bigger. “Thus 200 vessels or a throughput of more than 240,000 tons dropped out of the total statistics. But we were able to compensate this easily with increases of other dispatched goods. “, said Mr. Mierka. Excluding the decline in gravel transports the Danube port of Krems handled about 1.4 million tons of goods during the reference period, which is almost a 3%-increase compared to 2007. “There is a clear trend towards less heavy goods. For example we are now loading more household appliances, furniture or vehicles than previously“, said Mr. Mierka. Classified by transport carriers there were 510,000 tons on vessels, 490,000 tons on trucks and 390,000 tons on the railway. Vessel and truck transport showed an increase by 6 per cent each. The railway segment had to put up with a minus of 8 per cent. “The mild winter of 2007/2008 caused a smaller number of road-salt deliveries on the rail than usually“, Mr. Mierka explained this development. Quelle: Österreichische Verkehrszeitung |