Erich Staake (Chief Executive Officer) and Prof. Thomas Schlipköther (Member of the Managment Board), Copyright krischerfotografie
In the 2017 financial year, Duisburger Hafen AG (duisport) achieved sales revenues of EUR 250 million. This figure is 9% or EUR 20 million higher than the comparative figure of the previous year (EUR 230 million).
The operating result (EBITDA) improved by 2% to EUR 41 million. The result before taxes increased by 16% to EUR 22 million (2016: EUR 19 million). Erich Staake, Chief Executive Officer of Duisburger Hafen AG: “The steady increase in earnings over the past 20 years is mainly due to our successful national and international network management activities and our ability to establish Duisburg as the main logistics hub in central Europe.”
Review of the three divisions
Of the three duisport divisions, the Infra and Superstructure segment generated revenues of EUR 50.7 million. This represents an increase of 4% compared to the previous year (EUR 48.6 million).
In the Logistic Services division, sales revenues declined by 4% from EUR 78.9 million to EUR 75.8 million following the disposal of participating interests in two smaller companies.
In contrast, the Packing Logistics segment grew by 19% (from EUR 73 million to EUR 87 million) due to the positive capacity utilization in the German machine and equipment building sector.
Investments
In the past financial year, the duisport Group increased investments in fixed assets and financial investments by 42% to EUR 34 million. In addition to investments in infrastructure and suprastructure, a warehouse was also constructed on Duisburg's Mercatorinsel for DB Schenker, a service provider of Daimler AG. In addition, duisport also expanded its current business portfolio with the acquisition of freight forwarder Bohnen Logistik.
Total handling volume
Total handling volumes, including private commercial ports, amounted to 130.6 million tonnes (2016: 133.1 million tonnes). Hence total volumes declined by 1.9%. The ports of the duisport Group accounted for EUR 68.3 million tonnes of the total figure (2016: 66.8 million tonnes), which represents an increase of 2.1%.
Ship handling volumes, which fell from 16.2 to 15.7 million tonnes, reflect the decline in coal handling volumes. The rail traffic segment grew by 6.8% to 18.8 million tonnes compared to the 2016 financial year, mainly as a result of the China trains.
A total of 4.1 million standard containers (TEU) were handled through the ports of the duisport Group. This represents an increase of 11% (2016: 3.7 million TEU).
Major projects in 2017
“startport” innovation platform
In 2017, duisport established the “startport” logistics innovation platform together with partners from industry. The platform offers start-up companies an opportunity to develop innovative logistics solutions. The innovation platform is used by five start-ups at this time. Staake: “Our industrial cores must be connected using high-performance logistics models. startport aims to become an incubator for logistics innovations.”
Automotive Cluster duisport
The Port of Duisburg has become an important Automotive Cluster, as VW and Audi are joined by Daimler AG, which is now also processing its SKD and CKD business for the global production network of the Mercedes-Benz Van division from the Port of Duisburg.
Acquisition of Bohnen Logistik
In December 2017, duisport acquired the freight forwarding company Bohnen Logistik. With its 150 employees, Bohnen Logistik recently generated annual sales revenues of EUR 25 million. Staake: “Bohnen Logistik’s activities are an ideal complement to our current product portfolio.”
Regional infrastructure projects
The logport V site in Oberhausen is currently being developed by logport ruhr GmbH, a joint venture of duisport and RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH. Edeka e.G. is building a logistics center on the site. Approximately 1,000 new workplaces are expected to be created on the 30 hectare plot of a former RAG coal handling site.
dev.log, a joint venture of Evonik and duisport, is developing the 50 hectare plot in Niederkassel-Lülsdorf for logistics and production companies. The site development planning process for the first 20 hectare section is expected to be completed during the course of this year.
In Duisburg-Walsum, logport VI is in the process of being created on the 40 hectare site of a former paper factory. duisport is building a container terminal on the trimodal connected site directly on the Rhine. The land is expected to be available for new construction by the end of 2019 at the latest. Staake: We are confident that this site will create significantly more workplaces than the paper factory.”
duisport will develop additional sites in the Rhine-Ruhr region in the future.
International network along the Silk Road
duisport is expanding its activities along the corridors of the “One belt, One road” Silk Road initiative. Together with Trieste, the largest Italian port on the Adriatic Sea, duisport is investing in rail and trailer freight transportation. The port of Trieste is connected by ship trough the maritime Silk Road from South China via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea.
Together with China Merchants Logistics, a leading logistics company, projects are being implemented in the entire Eurasian region along the corridors of the Silk Road initiative. In this context, duisport is involved in the construction of the “Great Stone” industrial and logistics park near Minsk (Belarus), which covers more than 90 square kilometers, and a logistics hub near Istanbul.
More than 100,000 TEU were transported via the China trains in the past financial year. duisport expects that the trade with China will continue to grow. The infrastructure measures along the Silk Road and efforts to harmonize customs modalities mean that the travel time between China and duisport can be reduced as a result. This creates additional handling opportunities.
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