[ High Growth Rates in Transit Trade with Slovakia ]

Thanks to the great commitment shown by the Port of Hamburg’s Represe
ntitive Office in Prague and port operators in Slovakia, Hamburg’s t
ransit traffic with Slovakia increased by nearly 28% in 1996- an impre
ssive figure given the tough competition and the economic difficulties
facing Slovakia and a number of its export markets. The Port of Hamb
urg handled 64,000 t of transit cargoes for Slovakia last year.
According to the official figures, 52,000 t were imports but only 12,0
00 t Slovakian exports. However, random surveys and polls of forwarde
rs and import and export firms carried out by Port of Hamburg Marketin
g and Public Relations(HHVW) have revealed huge discrepancies from the
official statistics. Thus, HHVW assumes that the true volume of tran
sit cargo for Slovakia is well over 70,000 t. For years, incorrectly
completed documents have been causing considerable porblems in collect
ing statistics on intra-and extra-EU trade and processing transit pape
rs for official statistical purposes, especially when, for example, a
cargo’s destination has not been determined on a ship’s arrival in t
he Port of Hamburg. Difficulties in allocating cargoes repeatedly cro
p up so that the statistics for the various countries are frequently d
istorted. Thus, the volume of freighte passing through the Port of Ha
mburg on its way to and from certain countries is probably higher. Ho
wever, efforts are currently being made to improve the quality of the
offical statistics, and particularly those for transit cargoes.
Of course in competing for Slovakian cargoes, Hamburg is at d disadvan
tage in cost terms over and against North Sea ports accessible via the
Danube and in distance terms vis a vis Mediterranean ports. Despite
this, Hamburg has strenthened its market position in recent years. An
important role was played by the Ports price-performance ratio, the q
uality of its services, the universal nature of the Port, the frequenc
y of sailings, the availability of capacity(“economic proximity”) a
nd the broadth of services ranging from container stuffing and seawort
hy packaging to warehousing and import distribution. The fact that ra
il connections between Slovakia and Hamburg have becomes faster and mo
re frequent led to improvements in the quality of hinterland traffic l
ast year and this while adding to Hamburg’s significance for Slovakia
’s foreign trade. Daily block-train connections between Hamburg and
several inland terminals in Slovakia are offered, among others, Kombiv
erkehr and Eurokombi. So there are containerer services from Hamburg
to all of Slovakia’s industrial regions.
The most important incoming cargoes passing through Hamburg in 1996 we
re agricultural produce, tropical and citrus fruit, coffee, cocoa, tex
tiles, plastic goods and tobacco. Tropical and citrus fruit alone acc
ounted for 36.5% of imports. The main countries exporting goods to Sl
ovakia were Ecuador(fruit), China(consumer goods). Costa Rica(coffee)
, India(textiles) and the Ivory Coast(cocoa). Slovakian exports via H
amburg were mainly machines, building materials, malt, paper and carbo
ard and intermediate chemical products. The most important export mar
kets were Ghana, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brazil and Thailand.
In 1997 Hamburg’s port operators again significant growth rates in tr
ansit traffic with Slovakia, especially in exports of chemicals and ma
chinery and in imports of food, tabacco and cheap consumer goods.