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Port numbers growing despite Russia sanctions

The port of Hamburg is set for a record year, quelling fears that sanctions placed on Russian trade would affect its 2014 business, it said on Monday.

Port numbers growing despite Russia sanctions
Photo: DPA

In the first nine months of the year, Germany's largest port saw a turnover of 7.4 million standard containers (TEU), an increase of 6.4 percent over last year, port authority records show.

The port is also on its way to a record year. In 2008, 140 million tonnes of cargo was handled. Projections for 2014 show the port handling 144 million tonnes of cargo.

The numbers belie fears that Russian sanctions would hit trade through the port, though container traffic between Russia and the Port of Hamburg dropped by 5.7 percent compared to last year.

"After China, Russia still occupies second place among the Port of Hamburg's container partners," chief of marketing for the Port Ingo Egloff said.

Egloff said the weakening Russian rouble was more likely to be the cause of the drop in Russian traffic instead of the politically-motivated sanctions in response to the Ukraine conflict.

Trade with China accounted for 2.3 million containers and has seen an increase of 12.8 percent over the previous year.

"Hamburg is profiting from the double-digit growth in the contrainer trade with Asia," co-CEO of Hamburg Marketing Axel Mattern said. He added that trade with Africa also increased by 28.2 percent over the last year.

At the press conference presenting the figures, economics senator Frank Horch said that in order for the Port of Hamburg to stay competitive, the Elbe river needs to be deepened to handle increasingly larger container ships. 

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RUSSIA

Russia announces no New Year’s greetings for France, US, Germany

US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be receiving New Year's greetings from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Russia announces no New Year's greetings for France, US, Germany

As the world gears up to ring in the New Year this weekend, Putin sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of Kremlin-friendly countries including Turkey, Syria, Venezuela and China.

But Putin will not wish a happy New Year to the leaders of the United States, France and Germany, countries that have piled unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

“We currently have no contact with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And the president will not congratulate them given the unfriendly actions that they are taking on a continuous basis,” he added.

Putin shocked the world by sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine on February 24.

While Kyiv’s Western allies refused to send troops to Ukraine, they have been supplying the ex-Soviet country with weapons in a show of support that has seen Moscow suffer humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

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