Unchanged goods turnover in CMP
PORTS: Despite the fact that the economical conditions turned in 2008, CMP was able to maintain a total turnover of 18 million tonnes, only one percent less than the year before. The turnover of dry bulk and cars did however drop 10 to 20 percent. But the number of cruise guests increased.
"We are very happy and grateful to end 2008 so well, as is the case. The decrease in the turnover has up until now been less than other Scandinavian ports and might reflect that the Sound region, has many consumers able to buy and not a very high industry activity", says CEO of CMP Lars Karlsson.
CMP expects that 2009 will bring fairly the same amounts over quay as last year. The company has not yet ended the financial year 2008, but expects a better result than 2007, which was the best year so far.
Seven percent additional trailers were handled by the ferry services in 2008, of which German traffic constitutes a large part of the ro/ro trade. The turnover on containers increased with one percent this year, while most ports report large declines. The container shipping company MSC opened a direct service between Antwerp and Copenhagen in 2008.
Already by the end of 2007, CMP could sense a decrease in trade of cars due to the decline in car sales. The drop was pronounced in 2008, where almost 20 percent less cars were handled. In total 427,000 new cars were traded over quay or by rail in 2008. Bulk handling, of which a large proportion is building materials, dropped 11 percent due to the decline in construction. The decrease is also due to the closing completion of the great plant construction, the City Tunnel in Malmo.
The cruise season of the year was completed before the financial crisis began. The number of cruiseships increased to 301 and the passenger count exploded with 10 percent increase and reached 560,000 passengers. Copenhagen was for the fifth time elected to hold the title of leading cruise port in Europe.
Source: CMP
