Lower container traffic was recorded in 13 out of 15 leading ports of Europe in the first half of 2023 due to low demand and the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
As the PortEconomics platform reported, only the ports of Piraeus and Gioia Tauro in southern Italy showed an increase in traffic volumes.
More specifically, the port of Piraeus recorded an increase of 4.9% in the first half of 2023 while that of Gioia Tauro recorded an increase of 2.5%.
The port of Valencia reached 2.36 million TEUs in the first half of 2023, recording a decrease compared to the corresponding half of 2022 by 11.2%.
The port of Algeciras, located in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, handled a total of 2.33 million TEUs in the first half of 2023 compared to 2.34 million in 2022.
At the port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, container volume fell by 8.1% to 6.7 million TEUs in the first half.
At the combined port of Antwerp-Bruges, half-year volumes were 6.4 million TEUs, down 5.2% compared with the corresponding period in 2022.
In Hamburg container handling in the six months amounted to 3.8 million TEUs, down 11.8% compared to the corresponding period in 2022.
According to the six-month growth figures (provisionally) Piraeus is ranked as the fourth largest port in the EU followed by Rotterdam, Antwerp-Bruges and Hamburg.
According to the data of the first semester, 2.24 million TEUs were handled from piers II and III of the Piraeus Container Terminal in 2023, managed by COSCO’s subsidiary, SEP SA.
