Austria’s maritime transport industry expects transport volumes to increase this year. Alexander Till, Head of the Vienna Representative Office of Hafen Hamburg Marketing, reports on current developments.  

A recent survey of the relevant stakeholders in Austria, has fortunately revealed that Austrian overseas volumes via Hamburg in 2020 are only slightly down compared to the previous year. After a decline of 15-20 percent was recorded in the first half of the year, the losses were almost recovered in the second half of the year. Container depots in Austria report more volume for the second half of the year than in the same period last year. Further growth is generally expected for Q1 2021.

Due to high demand, the steel and technology group voestalpine has restarted the second blast furnace at the Donawitz site. This means that all five blast furnaces at voestalpine in Austria are back in operation, as reported by Industriemagazin. Although the lockdown in Austria will also last until around Easter, the maritime transport industry expects to exceed 2020 volumes this year.

A good overview of current developments in the sector is provided by Hafen Hamburg Marketing’s online formats. “In addition, the LinkedIn page of the Vienna Representative Office has been very well received by the industry, as shown by the high frequency on this page,” says Alexander Till, Head of the Vienna Representative Office. The Representative Office in Vienna is celebrating its 70th anniversary these days. It is the oldest representative office of the Port of Hamburg in the world.