• In 2023, persisting geopolitical tensions, low economic growth, slowdown in world trade and high inflation significantly impacted maritime throughput in main European seaports.
• As a consequence, main European seaports such as Rotterdam, Antwerp-Bruges, North Sea Port and Hamburg registered a decrease in the volumes of inland waterway cargo handled. Yet, driven by a record increase in grain traffic, mainly attributed to Ukrainian grain transiting through Romania, IWT traffic at the port of Constanţa in 2023 was the highest recorded in its history.
• Most of the European inland ports were negatively impacted by multiple downward factors, except for the Danube ports, notably Ismail and Reni, which experienced a strong increase in inland waterway cargo handling.

 

MAIN EUROPEAN SEAPORTS


    Sources: Ports’ statistics, Destatis, CBS, Eurostat [iww_go_aport] and Danube Commission
    * For Szczecin, data are for 2022.

     

    Source: Romanian national Institute of Statistics
     

    ROTTERDAM

    • In 2023, 89,175 inland vessels called at the Port of Rotterdam (82,763 in 2022).
    • The volumes of inland waterway cargo handling at the Port of Rotterdam decreased by -6.9% to 140.9 million tonnes in 2023 (compared to 151.3 million tonnes in 2022). All cargo segments decreased. Overall, geopolitical tensions, low economic growth and high inflation are the main explanatory factors behind these negative results. This affected particularly containerised cargo, which sustained a -11.2% decrease for the second year in a row. The handling of dry cargo also sustained a strong decrease (-9.6%), driven mainly by a fall in coal throughput, because of low demand for energy coal for power production. Indeed, in 2022, demand for coal rose sharply due to concerns about energy security and large increases in gas prices, a demand which returned to normal levels in 2023. Lower demand for raw materials from the European industry also contributed to these negative results in the area of dry bulk. Liquid cargo fell, with a smaller decline (-2.5%), mainly attributable to the low demand and stock reductions observed in the chemical industry and to a lesser extent, a decrease in mineral oil products.
    •  

      FIGURE 1: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF ROTTERDAM (IN MILLION TONNES) *


      Source: CBS
      * Note that data from the Port of Rotterdam based on CBS data were used in previous years, which can explain a difference in the numbers reported in the last years. However, the overall trends remain identical.

       

      FIGURE 2: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF ROTTERDAM PER CARGO SEGMENT (IN MILLION TONNES) *


      Source: CBS
      * General cargo is not taken into account in these calculations. In 2023, the volume transported for general cargo amounted to 3.1 million tonnes.

       

    ANTWERP-BRUGES

    • The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge have been operating under the name ‘Port of Antwerp-Bruges’ since April 2022. Most of IWW cargo handling at the port takes place on the Antwerp site. In 2023, the number of vessels calling at the port decreased to 55,604 (compared to 57,987 in 2022).
    • Liquid bulk is the most important cargo type (59.9%), followed by containers (18.9%) and dry bulk (14.4%). The IWW cargo handling decreased in 2023 (-3.4% compared to -7.5% in 2022) reaching a volume of 97.8 million tonnes (compared to 101.2 in 2022), reflecting geopolitical tensions and slowing economic growth which are driving down industrial production and trade flows. This result was driven by a sharp decrease in the transport of containers (-19.3%) for the second year in a row (-10.9% in 2022 already), because of the disruptions in global containerised liner shipping, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. On the other hand, the transport of liquid bulk (+3.0%) increased, driven by petroleum products (+15.9%), thereby recovering from the losses observed in 2022 (-12.7%). It offsets the decrease observed for all other liquid products, chemicals in particular (-8.5%), an industry which experienced an economic slowdown in 2023. Dry bulk also slightly increased (+0.9%) driven by higher transport volumes of crude minerals and building materials while all the other dry product segments slightly decreased.
    • The IWW modal split within total maritime throughput (excluding industrial traffic28) in 2023 was 48.7% at the port of Antwerp (51.4% in 2022). The IWW modal split share within container transport to and from the hinterland was 34.0% (minus one percentage point).
    •  

      FIGURE 3: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF ANTWERP-BRUGES (IN MILLION TONNES) *



      Source: Port of Antwerp-Bruges
      * From 2021 onwards, figures for inland waterway cargo handling at the Port of Antwerp and Zeebrugge appear under the name “Port of Antwerp-Bruges”.

       

      FIGURE 4: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF ANTWERP-BRUGES PER CARGO SEGMENT (IN MILLION TONNES) *


      Source: Port of Antwerp-Bruges
      * Ro/ro, general and not assigned goods are not taken into account in these calculations (in 2023, the volume transported for these three cargo types amounted to 6.6 million tonnes mostly attributed to general goods).
      * From 2021 onwards, figures for inland waterway cargo handling at the Port of Antwerp and Zeebrugge appear under the name “Port of Antwerp-Bruges”.

    NORTH SEA PORT

    • In 2023, 37,752 inland vessels called in at North Sea Port (Ghent, Terneuzen, Borsele, Flushing), compared to 40,645 in 2022.
    • Because of the difficult geopolitical and economic conditions such as the Russian full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine, the energy crisis, the rise in commodity prices and the reduced global demand, inland waterway transhipment sustained a -4.8% drop in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching 61.5 million tonnes (this decrease reached -10.6% for maritime throughput). Both liquid bulk (-6.6% compared to 2022) and dry bulk (-7.9%) decreased while container transport strongly increased (+36.8%). Both imports (-5.6%) and exports (-4.3%) decreased.
    • As for the modal split within hinterland transport, inland navigation ranks first with a share of 60.6% (including 2 additional percentage points taken from road) followed by road (28.1%), rail (9.6%) and transhipment or feeder traffic (1.6%).
    •  

      FIGURE 5: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE NORTH SEA PORT (IN MILLION TONNES) *


      Source: North Sea Port
       

      FIGURE 6: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE NORTH SEA PORT PER CARGO SEGMENT (IN MILLION TONNES) *


      Source: North Sea Port
      * Ro/ro and conventional cargo are not taken into account in these calculations (in 2023, the volume transported for these two cargo types amounted to 0.1 million tonnes and 4.2 million tonnes respectively).

    CONSTANŢA

    • In Constanţa, 14,614 inland vessels called at the port in 2023 (10,890 in 2022). As for maritime traffic, IWT traffic in 2023 recorded at the Port of Constanţa was the highest recorded in history. It reached 21.8 million tonnes, an increase of -40% compared to 2022. This growth is mainly attributed to higher volumes of grain transport. Indeed, Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, and Constanţa has become the largest alternative export route since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine. The cargo handled at the port of Constanţa in relation to Ukraine (covering both maritime and IWT) has registered 25 million tonnes, of which 14 million can be attributed to Ukrainian grain transiting through the port of Constanţa.
    • Regarding IWT specifically, mainly dry cargo is handled at the Port of Constanţa, with a share of almost 85% of the total IWT cargo volume handled. Dry cargo volumes registered a +40% increase compared to 2022. While the largest increase in dry bulk was propelled by grain, an increase was also recorded for iron ore as well as steel and iron scrap. For the second year in a row, liquid cargo volumes almost doubled, which can be attributed mainly to an increase in the volumes of petroleum products handled at the port. Container transport also reached a record year for the second year in a row and more than doubled compared to 2022. It however remains at low levels compared to liquid and dry bulk. General cargo remained stable. IWT traffic mainly consists of transit traffic and cabotage.
    •  

      FIGURE 7: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF CONSTANŢA (IN MILLION TONNES)


      Source: port of Constanţa
       

    HAMBURG

    • IWT cargo handling dropped by -6.2% in 2023 (7.00 million tonnes) compared to 2022 (7.47 million tonnes): exports suffered a decrease (-15.6%) while imports increased slightly (+1.9%). This reduction is attributed to the unfavourable economic conditions closely linked to the worldwide geopolitical situation.
    • Containers and dry cargo volumes decreased by -15.7% and -7.8% respectively between 2022 and 2023. For the containers category, which has been decreasing since 2021, this reduction has been mainly driven by the general difficult macroeconomic context which also affected many other European ports in 2023. Among dry cargo, the coal segment experienced a strong drop (-32.1%) compared with 2022 when there was a shift towards coal in the energy sector as a result of the war in Ukraine. This shift towards coal was no longer observed in 2023 and Germany has continued its energy transition, leading to sustainable electricity production and shifting away from coal-fired power stations.
    • As to liquid cargo, volumes remained stable between 2022 and 2023.
    • In 2023, the entire hinterland transport amounted to 85.3 million tonnes (compared to 88 million tonnes in 2022). With a share of 53.5% (-0.4 percentage point), railway transport is ahead of truck transport with 38.1% (+0.5 percentage point) and inland waterway transport with 8.4% (-0.1 percentage point).
    •  

      FIGURE 8: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF HAMBURG (IN MILLION TONNES)


      Source: Statistical Office of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
       

      FIGURE 9: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN THE SEAPORT OF HAMBURG PER CARGO SEGMENT (IN MILLION TONNES) *


      Source: Statistical Office of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
      * General cargo is not taken into account in these calculations (in 2023, the volume transported for this cargo type amounted to almost 0.2 million tonnes).

 
 

MAIN EUROPEAN INLAND AND SEAPORTS29

    RHINE PORTS

      TABLE 1: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN MAJOR RHINE PORTS (IN MILLION TONNES) AND RATE OF CHANGE 2023/2022 *

      20202021202220232023/2022
      Duisburg42.444.941.941.5-0.9%
      Cologne9.19.88.27.7-6.0%
      Karlsruhe6.26.46.86.4-5.5%
      Mannheim6.97.37.66.3-16.8%
      Strasbourg6.86.96.46.2-3.0%
      Neuss6.56.65.65.5-1.2%
      Ludwigshafen6.86.95.65.0-11.0%
      Basel5.15.44.64.9+8.0%
      Mainz3.83.13.53.3-5.6%
      Mulhouse4.24.13.63.2-12.8%
      Kehl4.44.43.22.7-14.4%
      Krefeld3.03.43.12.7-12.3%
      Andernach2.72.72.32.2-5.3%
      Wesseling2.52.11.91.8-6.4%
      Wesel2.02.12.11.8-13.8%
      Total112.4116.3106.5101.4-4.8%

      Sources: Destatis, Port de Strasbourg, Swiss Rhine ports, Port de Mulhouse
      The “total” relates only to the ports mentioned in the table, not all Rhine ports.
      * Data on German ports are based on the geographical approach, which means that all cargo turnover within a city is taken into account, and not only the cargo handled in a specific port.

     

    TOTAL YEARLY WATERSIDE TRAFFIC (IN MILLION TONNES)


     

    PORTS IN GERMANY OUTSIDE THE RHINE *

      TABLE 2: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN MAJOR NON-RHINE PORTS IN GERMANY (IN MILLION TONNES) AND RATE OF CHANGE 2023/2022 *

      20202021202220232023/2022
      Hamburg7.97.68.37.6-8.3%
      Frankfurt am Main5.75.44.85.0+4.6%
      Gelsenkirchen4.64.94.94.3-12.6%
      Brunsbüttel2.72.82.83.2+14.0%
      Marl3.23.12.92.9+2.0%
      Bottrop3.12.82.82.8+2.3%
      Bremen2.73.33.22.7-16.7%
      Saarlouis1.92.62.82.7-2.3%
      Magdeburg2.62.72.42.7+14.0%
      Salzgitter2.22.72.72.5-7.1%
      Lünen1.82.32.62.3-9.9%
      Hamm2.72.12.12.0-2.9%
      Lingen (Ems)1.92.12.01.8-11.7%
      Heilbronn1.82.21.91.6-14.0%
      Berlin1.81.81.71.3-23.1%
      Total46.648.447.745.5-4.7%

      Source: Destatis
      * Data on German ports are based on the geographical approach, which means that all cargo turnover within a city is taken into account, and not only the cargo handled in a specific port. For Hamburg, the figures in accordance with this approach are therefore higher than the figures of the Port of Hamburg, due to other transhipment places in the city.

       

      TOTAL YEARLY WATERSIDE TRAFFIC (IN MILLION TONNES)


       

    FRENCH AND BELGIAN30 PORTS

      TABLE 3: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN MAJOR FRENCH AND BELGIAN PORTS (IN MILLION TONNES) AND RATE OF CHANGE 2023/2022

      20202021202220232023/2022
      Antwerp101.0109.4 31101.297.8-3.4%
      Paris22.822.520.619.6-5.0%
      Liège13.914.914.511.8-19.2%
      La Louvière6.26.46.86.4-5.9%
      Strasbourg6.86.96.46.2-3.0%
      Rouen5.95.44.95.0+2.9%
      Brussels4.95.45.14.8-5.3%
      Namur3.84.34.34.8+12.6%
      Mulhouse4.24.13.63.2-12.8%
      Le Havre2.73.03.22.9-10.7%
      Dunkirk2.92.62.12.1+1.7%
      Lille2.02.32.41.9-16.4%
      Marseille1.92.02.11.8-14.4%
      Metz2.01.71.81.4-18.5%
      Lyon1.01.21.21.1-6.7%
      Ports de l’Escaut321.11.21.21.1-6.9%
      Villefranche-sur-Saône 0.70.70.70.7-2.7%
      Total183.8194.0182.0172.6-5.1%

      Sources: Voies Navigables de France, Ports de Paris, Port de Liège, Port Autonome du Centre et de l’Ouest, Port de Strasbourg, Port de Mulhouse, Port de Bruxelles, Port de Namur, Nouveau Port de Metz, Port de Lille, Port de Dunkerque, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Association française des ports intérieurs (AFPI)
      The “total” relates only to the ports mentioned in the table, and not to all French and Belgian ports.


       

      TOTAL YEARLY WATERSIDE TRAFFIC (IN MILLION TONNES)

     

    DANUBE PORTS

      TABLE 4: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN MAJOR DANUBE PORTS (IN MILLION TONNES) AND RATE OF CHANGE 2023/2022

      20202021202220232023/2022
      Constanţa14.515.815.421.7+41.0%
      Ismail3.24.18.920.3+127.9%
      Reni0.81.46.810.1+47.5%
      Linz3.43.52.92.9-0.4%
      Smederovo2.63.23.02.8-7.5%
      Giurgulesti1.21.82.12.7+24.4%
      Galaţi2.83.33.01.9-36.0%
      Pancevo2.00.91.61.6+3.3%
      Bratislava1.51.81.91.5-22.0%
      Drobeta Turnu Severin1.01.21.01.4+29.5%
      Regensburg1.51.31.11.0-5.7%
      Prahovo1.21.00.91.0+13.0%
      Budapest-Csepel1.21.21.00.9-9.8%
      Novi Sad1.61.40.90.9-6.2%
      Călăraşi-Chiciu0.90.90.60.9+66.4%
      Măcin1.21.20.90.7-22.4%
      Giurgiu0.81.00.70.7+9.1%
      Vienna0.80.90.60.6+8.6%
      Brăila0.30.50.80.4-55.9%
      Enns0.60.70.50.4-24.8%
      Baja0.80.60.30.3+14.6%
      Tulcea1.21.30.50.2-65.1%
      Total45.149.055.475.0+34.8%

      Sources: Danube Commission market observation, Romanian National Institute of Statistics
      The “total” relates only to the ports mentioned in the table and not all Danube ports. The data used in Figure 6 come from the Port of Constanţa while the data used in this table come from the Romanian National Institute of Statistics. This can explain the slight difference in the figures reported.

       

      TOTAL YEARLY WATERSIDE TRAFFIC (IN MILLION TONNES)

     

    SAVA PORTS

      TABLE 5: INLAND WATERWAY CARGO HANDLING IN MAJOR SAVA PORTS (IN 1,000 TONNES) AND RATE OF CHANGE 2023/2022 *

      20202021202220232023/2022
      Serbia
      Other transhipment places 2,12,2833,24,381+37.0%
      Sremska Mitrovica 4866931,194722-40.0%
      Šabac 170224142131-8.0%
      Croatia
      Slavonski Brod 138192161180+12.0%
      Sisak 55293829-2.0%
      Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Brčko 73314161+49.0%
      Total3,0223,4524,7755,504+15.0%

      Source: International Sava River Basin Commission
      * In 2015, the Port of Šamac in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported bankruptcy, therefore no transhipment of cargo has been recorded since then. The production process of Brod oil refinery has been at a standstill since 2020. Since 2018, data for smaller transhipment places in Serbia began to be collected as part of the category “other ports”.

       

      TOTAL YEARLY WATERSIDE TRAFFIC (IN 1,000 TONNES)