More than three million passengers on ferries and cruise liners
Rostock Overseas Port once more handled over 30 million tonnes of goods last year. „It is the second best handling result in the 65 year history of the Overseas Port, at 30.1 million tonnes“, states Dr. Gernot Tesch, managing director of the port operator ROSTOCK PORT. Only in 2023 was there a higher o
verall result at 30.9 million tonnes of cargo handled. „In view of the economic environment we are extremely pleased with the overall result of 2024 since it confirms the operative capability of the companies and public authorities active at the largest universal port on the German Baltic Sea coast”.
According to Rostock’s Port and Shipping Authority the other ports in Rostock, such as the cargo and fishing port and the chemical port, together handled another 1.5 million tonnes of goods in 2024. Thus a total of 31.6 million tonnes of cargo were transhipped in the port city of Rostock last year.
„In 2024 we had the pleasure to welcome a total of 3.1 million passengers on the ferries and cruise vessels at the Overseas Port and in Warnemünde, which is around 140,000 travellers more than in the previous year“, summarises Jens A. Scharner, managing director of ROSTOCK PORT GmbH. „At 2.57 million passengers on the three ferry services to Denmark and Sweden operated by Scandlines, Stena Line and TT-Line there was a rise of 30,000 ferry passengers over the previous year. At the Warnemünde cruise port 532,000 passengers embarked and disembarked (2023: 419,000) during 148 port calls (2023: 130) by 38 cruise vessels (2023: 30). On 114 out of 365 days of the year 2024, cruise liners from 23 national and international shipping companies were moored in Warnemünde cruise port.”
In the year 2024, nearly 18 million Euros were invested in the infrastructure of the Overseas Port. This year, ROSTOCK PORT plans on investing more than Euro 50 million in the infrastructure and in participations to strengthen the competitiveness of the port.
Cargo handling results at the Overseas Port
„After extremely strong growth over the last ten years from around 21 to now over 30 million tonnes of cargo handled, even the Overseas Port can not entirely escape the effects of the sluggish economy. The 2024 handling result may be 800,000 tonnes below the record result of the previous year but it still demonstrates the strength of the universal port in an impressive manner”, says Dr. Gernot Tesch.
All told, Rostock Overseas Port logged 7,580 port calls by ferry and ro-ro vessels, tankers, freighters and cruise liners last year (2023: 7,461), of which 5,857 port calls were made by ferry and ro-ro vessels (2023: 5,657).
Dry bulk handling was eleven percent below the previous year with a total of 5.05 million tonnes. There were losses mainly in the handling of coal, cement and fertilizer. With an annual result of 2.7 million tonnes grain remains the dominant dry bulk cargo at the Overseas Port.
At 7.9 million tonnes the handling of liquid goods reached the previous year’s result. All told six million tonnes of crude oil were pumped from tankers via Rostock Oil Port into the pipeline to the PCK refinery in Schwedt as a contribution to securing the supply of petrol station products to eastern Germany.
Handling of general cargo was 100,000 tonnes below the level of the previous year, at 655,000 tonnes. While handling of sheet metal and pipes declined, handling numbers went up for wind power blades and zinc.
In the handling of wheeled cargo, i.e. ferry and ro-ro goods, the port managed to again reach the high level of the previous year, at 16.5 million tonnes. The number of truck/trailer units carried on the ferry and ro-ro connections to and from Northern Europe increased slightly to 517,000. Handling of paper and forestry products increased by 16,000 to 378,000 tonnes.
Ferry travel continued to increase last year. The number of cars and mobile homes carried between Northern Europe and Rostock went up to 666,000. The number of railway wagons carried to and from Trelleborg decreased mainly on account of building sites, from 26,800 in 2023 to 21,800 last year.
The approach of ROSTOCK PORT to widen its range by establishing a port terminal for car handling has proven to have a stabilising effect for ferry and ro-ro traffic. The import and export of new cars increased especially by the establishment of the automotive logistics company Autolink, from 32,000 to more than 122,000 vehicles last year.
The share of wheeled cargo in the overall handling at Rostock Overseas Port was 55 percent. The well-balanced spread between horizontal and vertical handling is an indicator for the balanced business model and thus for the efficiency of the multi-purpose port.
Previous year’s result in intermodal transport almost reached
There was a slight decline in the handling of intermodal transport. The terminal operator Rostock Trimodal (RTM) transhipped around 112,000 units and thus three percent less than over the same period last year. But since there were double-digit decrease rates in the beginning of the year the overall result can still be considered a success. „After many years of growth this slight decline is to be attributed to the difficult economic environment but also to building activities in the immediate hinterland of the port as well as further down the lines, plus higher energy and train path prices. The improved availability of drivers for road transport also played a role. In the medium and long term we do however continue to envisage growing demand for intermodal transport solutions and we will continue to expand capabilities at the port accordingly. There are initial signs for the intermodal transport business coming out of its trough”, says Dr. Gernot Tesch.
Currently there are 47 intermodal trains per week to and from Verona (21) in Italy, Bratislava (5) in Slovakia, Oradea (2) in Romania, Dresden (5), Herne (6) and Halle (1) in Germany as well as Bettembourg (3) in Luxembourg. Via Bettembourg it is possible to reach Lyon in France as well as Barcelona in Spain, for instance. Also, LKW Walter has recently started a service to Karlsruhe (4).
Projects and investments
New building of berths 33 and 34
The building contract for the new-building of berths 33 and 34 was awarded before the end of 2024. This means that the last two berths from the 1960s on the east side of pier 2 will be completely rebuilt on a length of about 400 metres. With a draught of 12.50 metres and a surface load carrying capacity of five tonnes per square metre the construction parameters of these berths will more or less coincide with those of the newly built berths 31 and 32.
Construction will take about two years and is estimated to cost just under 20 million Euros. The project is subsidised by the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern under the joint Federal Government/Länder scheme for improving regional economic infrastructure.
Traffic infrastructure upgrade south of port basin A
As part of phase 2 of the funding plan to improve the traffic infrastructure, extensive demolition work was begun still last year south of port basin A, clearing old storage sheds on an area of around ten hectares. This demolition work is expected to be completed in three stages by the end of 2026 and is being accompanied by extensive measures to protect endangered species.
After they have been cleared these areas, which adjoin the ferry and ro-ro terminal, will be available for further port development. This whole project also receives funding from the joint Federal Government/Länder scheme for improving regional economic infrastructure. The overall volume of the project amounts to 15 million Euros.
New building of deep-water berth 5 at the Oil Port
In June 2022 an order was placed for the planning of a deep-water berth in the eastern part of Rostock Oil Port. „Based on qualified and accelerated planning, a building permit is to be obtained as quickly as possible in order to upgrade berth 5 for all future energy imports and allow for sufficient amounts of renewable energies to be provided via Rostock. The approval procedure is currently being coordinated with the authority issuing the zoning approval and will shortly be started officially so that construction work can begin in 2026”, says Jens A. Scharner. Construction is estimated to take around two years.
After completion of the new berth the port basin at the Oil Port will be connected to the turning basin to the Oil Port at the same draught as the turning basin, i.e. 16.50 metres. Since the building work will mostly take place within the existing port basin, interference with nature will be limited to a minimum.
Upgrade of the fender facilities of berth 3 at the Oil Port
Since last year berth 3 at the Oil Port has been in unusually intense and constant use for supplies to the PCK refinery at Schwedt.
Work on upgrading the fender facilities was started at the end of last year while shipping operations continued so that the intense transhipment activities can proceed without a hitch.
EU subsidy programme „Rail-IT-MoS“
As part of the EU subsidy programme „Rail-IT-MoS“, which comprises a total investment volume of roughly seven million Euros over the entire project span from 2023 to 2025 at Rostock Overseas Port, ROSTOCK PORT has continued the refurbishment of railway and switching facilities at the ferry and ro-ro terminal. The second of the total of four construction stages for refurbishing railway and switching facilities was completed in 2024.
Furthermore, a new elevator facility was installed at berth 64 in order to improve ferry passenger traffic. It was commissioned in June 2024. This has vastly improved accessibility of the railway ferries of Stena Line operating between Rostock and Trelleborg, ensuring barrier-free travel.
Another sub-measure towards extending and optimising areas west of quay shed 9a was begun last year: Completion of asphalting work on an area covering approx. 7,000 square metres within the ro-ro terminal.
In addition, preliminary planning activities and contract awarding procedures for widening the ramp at berth 62 and for two new floodlight masts have taken place.
In order to extend and improve the information and communications technologies at the Overseas Port, an order was placed for a technology upgrade for the north gate to allow for automatic check-in and check-out of trucks and trailers. Also, we have worked on the introduction of a software interface with the ferry operator Stena Line, and we have installed a combined network technology (Wireless Local Area Network - WLAN and Wireless Wide Area Network - WWAN) at the ferry and ro-ro terminal.
Track extension at the intermodal transport terminal
The completion of planning work for the extension of the existing intermodal transport terminal to a track length of 680 metres entails further extension work at the port in order to enable it to cope with future requirements in rail/land transhipment. „Rostock is confident that thanks to its above-average railway infrastructure, but also as a result of targeted measures to extend capacity combined with ongoing investment by DB InfraGo (formerly DB Netz) it will be able to contribute to the establishment of green transport chains and to the transfer of traffic from road to rail“, explains Dr. Gernot Tesch.
Building work to extend the railway tracks at the intermodal transport terminal will begin in the spring of 2025. The craneable track length will be extended from currently 600 to 680 metres. In addition to this, another major building project is the extension of the crane track spar with railway tracks for the gantry cranes. This construction work will take place with the terminal continuing in operation and it will be completed next year.
Energy port Rostock: Hydrogen production project and import of sources of green energy
In line with its sustainability strategy, ROSTOCK PORT actively supports decarbonisation projects in the fields of hydrogen and the import of green derivatives through the port. They are an important step on the way to achieving climate neutrality at the site. „Our strategic projects comprise an interest in a company, rostock EnergyPort cooperation GmbH, the upgrading of our infrastructure for sources of green energy, the new building of berth 5 as well as the provision of land for the import and storage of renewable energy sources”, says Jens A. Scharner. „We are striving to become a forerunner as an energy hub for the distribution of hydrogen in order to sustainably reduce carbon dioxide emissions and environmental pollution.”
Warnemünde passenger port expects seven first-time port calls
The arrival of AIDAmar on 13 April will ring in the 2025 cruise shipping season in Warnemünde. 22 cruise shipping companies from Germany and abroad have notified 165 port calls by 36 cruise liners for this year. Rostock-based shipping company AIDA Cruises will for instance perform 68 port calls with turnaround of passengers at its home port of Warnemünde with AIDAdiva and AIDAmar.
Seven cruise vessels will call at the mouth of river Warnow for the first time this year: Viking Vela on 12 May, SeaDream2 on 3 June, Carnival Miracle on 12 June, Vista on 3 July, Viking Saturn on 8 July, Ilma on 4 August und Le Laperouse on 21 August. Out of the 165 port calls, 110 have been notified as turnaround and 55 will be transit port calls. The 2025 cruise shipping season is expected to end on 17 December with the port call by Amadea of the German shipping company Phönix Reisen.
„During the previous season, 148 port calls by 38 cruise vessels were recorded at Warnemünde cruise port. During more than half of these port calls, 79 to be exact, the cruise vessels used environmentally-friendly shore electricity of around 2.7 million kilowatt hours in total. 114 out of 365 days of the year saw cruise liners moored at the port of Warnemünde in 2024”, summarises Jens A. Scharner.
Statistics of Rostock Overseas Port for 2024
Main Cargo Types 2023 (t) 2024 (t) trent in % share in %
Ferry- & roro-goods 16,500,000 16,500,000 0 % 55 %
Dry bulk goods 5,700,000 5,050,000 -11 % 17 %
Liquid goods 7,900,000 7,900,000 0 % 26 %
General cargo 758,000 655,000 -14 % 2 %
Total 30,858,000 30,105,000 -3 % 100 %