Seaborne cargo throughput rises by 5.9 percent to 34.5 million tonnes – container throughput up by 5.7 percent
The ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven continued their growth trajectory in the first half of 2026. From January through June, a total of 34.5 million tonnes of seaborne cargo were handled. This represents an increase of 5.9 percent compared with the first half of the previous year, which had already seen similarly strong growth.
Container throughput was particularly dynamic during the first six months of this year. With around 2.6 million TEU handled, container throughput increased by 5.7 percent compared with the same period in 2025. Vehicle throughput also increased, in contrast to the previous year, reaching around 614,000 vehicles – an increase of 2.4 percent.
“The positive development in port throughput is an important signal for our economic hub: the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven are key hubs for supplying businesses and facilitating international trade. To continue fulfilling this role successfully in the future, it remains essential to invest in efficient and future-proof port infrastructure. The current throughput figures underline how important these investments are for the location and its competitiveness,” says Kristina Vogt, Senator for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation of the City of Bremen.
Robert Howe, Managing Director of bremenports GmbH & Co. KG, adds: “The figures for the first half of the year show that the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven are well positioned even in a challenging market environment. Throughput is growing in key areas, particularly in container traffic. This is a strong signal of the performance of our ports as well as the quality and efficiency of the logistics services we provide to our customers.”
The increase is spread across various cargo groups. General cargo throughput rose by 5.4 percent in the first half of the year to around 30.2 million tonnes. Non-containerized general cargo recorded an increase of 9.8 percent, reaching 3.5 million tonnes. Throughput of iron and steel increased particularly significantly: at around 851,000 tonnes, it was 24.1 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year. Overall, bulk cargo throughput increased by 9.6 percent to around 4.3 million tonnes.
In Bremerhaven, a total of around 29.2 million tonnes were handled between January and June, representing an increase of 5.3 percent compared with the first half of 2025. Bremen’s city ports recorded around 5.3 million tonnes, an increase of 9.3 percent. Both port locations therefore contributed to the positive overall development of the ports of Bremen.
Bremerhaven thus remains Germany’s second-largest seaport in terms of cargo throughput. It is surpassed only by the significantly larger Port of Hamburg, which handled a total of 56.1 million tonnes in the first half of the year. This represented a decline of 3.1 percent compared with the same period of the previous year.
Detailed figures for the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven are available in the monthly port statistics, published at https://www.bremenports.de/en/ports.
