World trade in the doldrums

HAMBURG, Germany: From Yantian to Hamburg, world trade is in the doldrums and Christian Blauert, who heads the largest container terminal in Germany’s northern port of Hamburg, needs only check the webcams to know things aren’t getting better.

On his computer he has access to a live-feed of pictures from Chinese harbors like Yantian showing mountains of empty containers, waiting for exports to pick up.

“The situation in the international port of Yantian is typical,” referring to the site near Hong Kong. “You can hardly see the full containers because the terminals are crowded with empties.”

At the HHLA (Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft) Burchardkai terminal, where giant cranes on rails dominate the skyline, Blauert expects turnover to be down by more than 10 percent this year because of the economic downturn and a number of HHLA’s 3,700 Hamburg employees will be facing short-time work as of this summer.

Shipping these days in Hamburg—Germany’s largest port and Europe’s second-largest after Rotterdam—is all about containers because 97 percent of goods are moved that way.

China was Hamburg’s most important trading partner last year, accounting for 32 percent in volume of the 140-million tons shipped through the port. Singapore came second place, followed by Russia.

The world crisis “is hitting us badly because the port is at the center of logistics for northern Germany,” says Alex Gedashko, Hamburg economy minister.

And Hamburg, especially since the fall of the Iron Curtain, serves as the gateway for much of central and northern Europe, he adds.

In this city-state of 1.8 million people, unemployment is up to 78,000, including 10,000 in the logistics sector, with at least 30,000 more on short time, according to Gedashko.

Last year, the logistics sector—the third largest in Germany with some 2.7 million employees—posted 215 billion euros ($280 billion) in turnover. Raimund Klinker expects the figure to be down by five percent this year for the country as a whole.

Germany, the world’s top exporter, has seen them crash to an all-time low this year. And the World Trade Organization expects a nine percent slump in global trade, the worst figure on record since World War II.

Klinker, chairman of Germany’s logistics association (BVL) confirms that shipment of goods is down in Germany. By 33 percent for cars and automobile parts—the country’s leading industry—and by 10 to 20 percent for machine tools over the first quarter of the year.

The crisis “doesn’t just affect volumes, but pushes down shipping prices,” says Thomas Wimmer, a specialist at the BVL who suggests that the worst hit shipping routes out of Hamburg are those to China and South America.

Compared to a year ago, container-shipping prices have dropped by between 40 percent and 60 percent, he says.

According to a study unveiled at the Global Shipping Conference earlier this month in London, some 11 percent of container ships worldwide have been taken out of service, and average charter rates have dropped by 80 percent.

These vessels are being replaced with fewer, but much larger, container ships as shipping lines try to stay afloat through economies of scale, says Blauert.– AFP