In 2017 the crane operators at Denmark’s largest container port, Port of Aarhus, lifted 3,684,000 tons container goods with the container cranes, and this was not only a Danish record, but also a realization of a 14.1 percent growth compared to the year before. Thus, the container turnover ensured a total increase of the goods turnover of 4.9 percent when all business areas of the port are added up.
In comparison, Port of Rotterdam, which is the largest container port in Europe, realized an increase of 12.3 percent of the container goods and 1.3 percent of the total goods turnover.
“Without knowing the figures for all European ports, I am sure that we are on the good side together with Port of Rotterdam, and therefore we allow ourselves to compare. In isolation, our performance is more than satisfactory in terms of turnover of containers, and a total growth of approx. 5 percent is quite good in the current market”, says Jakob Flyvbjerg Christensen, Port Director of Port of Aarhus.
One single container call in Aarhus during 2017 was larger than normal due to a labour dispute in a Swedish port, but this call only affects the container growth by approx. one percent.
The total growth of Port of Aarhus of approx. 5 percent – in addition to the container growth of approx. 14 percent – consists of a growth of the bulk segment of approx. 8 percent, including a decent increase in the turnover of biofuel. Unfortunately, the turnover of liquid goods has a negative influence with a decrease of approx. 15 percent, which alone is owing to a reduced turnover of mineral oil whereas the vegetable oil products are growing steadily. The total turnover of goods reached 8,628,000 tons.
”Right now, we are favoured by the decision we made some years ago to make biofuel our new strategic business area. At that time, it was clear that many power plants would switch from coal and oil to more environmentally correct fuel types. In 2017 our turnover of biofuel developed positively, and this has continued in the first months of 2018”, says Jakob Flyvbjerg Christensen.
Source: Port of Aarhus (LF)
Source: Port of Aarhus