[ Czech Republic-Hamburg’s Most Important Eastern .. ]

Czech Republic-Hamburg’s Most Important Eastern European Transit Par
tner

At the traditional Port of Hamburg Evening in Prague on September 5 19
97, Dr. Hans Ludwig Beth, Chairman of Port of Hamburg Marketing and Pu
blic Relations(HHVW) told the journalists present that the Port of Ham
burg had further strengthened its outstanding position as the gateway
to the markets of Central and Eastern Europe in 1996. As a bridge to
Britain, Scandinavia and overseas countries, Hamburg is the Czech Repu
blic’s most important overseas port and in 1996 the Czech Repubic was
Hamburg’s most important transit partner in Central and Eastern Euro
pe. In 1996 the volume of transit cargoes handled in Hamburg for the
Czech Republic was around 700,000t-26.3% up on the previous year.
However, random surveys and polls of forwarders and import and export
firms carried out by Port of Hamburg Marketing and Public Relations(HH
VW) have revealed huge discrepancies from the official statistics. Th
us, HHVW assumes that the true volume of transit cargo for the Czech R
epublic is well over 700,000t. For years, incorrectly completed docum
ents have been causing considerable problems in collecting statistics
on intra and extra EU trade and processing transit papers for official
purposes, especially when, for example, a cargo’s destination has no
t been determinated on a ship’s arrival in the Port of Hamburg. Diff
iculties in allocating cargoes repeatedly crop up so that the statisti
cs for the various countries are frequently distorted.
Thus, the volume of freight passing through the Port of Hamburg on its
way to and from certain countries is probably higher. However, effor
ts are currently being made to improve teh quality of the official sta
tistics, and particularly those for transit cargoes.
Although reforms are coming on promisingly in the Czech economy. Czec
h overseas trade has not yet made the desired progress. Imports via t
he Port of Hamburg are still nearly four times as high as Czech export
s(1996:543,000t to 150,000t according to official statistics). The ma
in exports in 1996 were glass, machinery, intermediate chemical produc
ts, glassware, electrical goods, paper and cardboard, ironware, vehicl
es, mail, milk, and plastics. The most important export markets were
all in Asia or the Middle East-Japan, Iran, India, Taiwan and Saudi Ar
abia. The main supply countries were Brazil, China, Malaysia, Canada,
India, Hong Kong, Ecuador(fruit) and Costa Rica(fruit). The most imp
ortant imported goods were oilseed(153,000t), tropical and citrus frui
t (54,000t) and rubber(30,000t). There was also a rapid growth in imp
orts of tinned vegetables and fruit, plastic goods, electrical goods,
crude rubber, clothing and coffee.
On the 1.7m t of cargoes coming into the Port of Hamburg from East Asi
a, some 205,000 t went to the Czech Republic. Figures that underline
the Port of Hamburg’s hub function in East Asia-and South America-Eas
tern Europe traffic.
Incoming transit traffic rose by more than 150,000 t in 1996 where exp
orts rose by the more modest total of around 20,000 t.
In the early Middle Ages there was already lively trade between Prague
and Hamburg, and via the Port of Hamburg to overseas destinations. Be
fore World War Two around two thirds of cargoes handled in the Port of
Hamburg (apart from local traffic), came from the territory of the fo
rmer Czechoslovakia and GDR, Hungary and Southern Poland.
Nowadays around 40% of transit cargoes bound for Central and Eastern E
urope are accounted for by the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A further increase in cargo turnover for the Czech Republic is expecte
d for 1997. The introduction of free market reforms in the Czech econ
omy is leading to stronger links to the world economy and with it worl
d trade. For this reason, Hamburg’s port operators expect a consider
able upsurge in traffic in the medium to long term.
One positive influence in the past has been the good rail connections
and in particular the block-train services between Hamburg and Melnik
or Prague. The volume of container shipments with EUROKOMBI and METRA
NS (alone subsidiaries of Hamburg’s two leading cargo-handling compan
ies) rose to around 70,000 TEUs in 1996. The goal in 1997 is a turnov
er of around 85,000 TEUs.
Since March 1995 the Port of Hamburg’s broad spectrum of intermodal h
interland connections has extended to include another interesting opti
on. A joint venture between Deutsche Binnenreederel, Berlin and the C
zechoslovakian Elbe Shipping Co.(CSPL) resulted in the launch of the E
lbe container Line. Since then, it has been operating a weekly inland
-shipping container liner service on the 700-km Elbe route between Ham
burg and Prague. On the 8-10 day trip between Hamburg an d Prague the
container service calls in at the ports of Magdeburg, Aken, Riese, D
resden, Decin, Usti and Melnik.
In 1996 the volume of cargo transported by inland wateway between Hamb
urg and the Czech Republic rose quite considerably. Besides oilseed,
building materials and scrap, it is mainly kaolin, fertilizers, invest
ment goods, plate metal and all kinds of heavy goods that are transpor
ted on the Elbe. However, the inland-waterway vessels also carry coca
and, in recent months, an increasing number of containers.
For seven years HHVW has had a representative office in Prague. The t
eam, led by Bohumii Pruss and his deputy Jirt Svoboda (both engineers
by training),provides competent advice and assistance to all the Port
of Hamburg’s customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. What’s m
ore, DAKOSY’s into interface East provides a direct EDI link between
the Port of Hamburg and its representative office in Prague. Thus, Cz
ech or Slovakian shippers can interchange data direct with their busin
ess contacts in the Port of Hamburg.