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. Only in 2023 was there a higher overall result at 30.9 million tonnes of cargo handled. In view of the difficult economic environment it confirms the operative capability of the companies and public authorities active at the largest universal port on the German Baltic Sea coast.
All told, Rostock Overseas Port logged 7,580 port calls by ferry and ro-ro vessels, tankers, freighters and cruise liners in 2024 (2023: 7,461), of which 5,857 port calls were made by ferry and ro-ro vessels (2023: 5,657).
The ferry terminal and ro-ro terminal contain eleven berths. Berth 64 is equipped for the clearance of railway carriages.
An overpass leads directly from the ferry terminal to the motorway A19/A20.
The ro-ro terminal with four berths and the terminal for intermodal traffic in immediate vicinity offer the best handling conditions for both liner and tramp shipping.
Thus the share of wheeled cargo in the total handling at Rostock Overseas port was 55 percent in 2024. This is also an indicator for the well-balanced business model and thus for the efficiency of the multi-purpose port.
Upgrading and New Construction
Upgrading and New Consruction
Berths 62, 63 and 50
In order to be able to handle ships with a length up to 220 or 250 meters, respectively, in the ferry and roro division, berths 62 and 63 were modified.
By renewing the transverse quay and the construction of two 37 meter wide ramps at port basin A in the area of berth 50 it is possible for ro-ro vessels with a length up to 250 meters to berth, load and unload here.
Handling results Ferry and Ro-Ro goods 2024
16,5 million tonnes
cargo handling
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.
Handling results trucks, trailer 2024
slight increase
in truck and trailer handling
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 results ferry passengers 2024
slight increase
in number of passengers, cars and mobile homes
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.
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.
Handling results Paper and Cellulose 2024
slight plus
by 16,000 tonnes
Handling of paper and forestry products increased by 16,000 to 378,000 tonnes.
Handling results Railway wagons 2024
minus 5,000 units
on account of building sites
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.
Around 20 percent of all hinterland traffic to and from our port is carried by rail in the modal split.
Automotive logistics 2024
import and export of commercial vehicles
more than 122,000 vehicles
The approach of ROSTOCK PORT to widen the range by establishing a port terminal for car handling has proven to have a stabilising effect for ferry and ro-ro traffic.
The terminal includes two high-performance sidingswith double-decker loading ramps at the ends of the tracks as well as an overpass over the Ost-West-Strasse to berth 50.
The efficient handling terminal for rail, road and seaborne cargo covers an area of approx. 80,000 square metres.
Five tracks are served by two gantry cranes able to drive curves. So the port of Rostock is prepared for further increases in the amounts of wheeled cargo.
An additional option for servicing trains up to 740 metres in length exists by rearranging spaces in the track area.
The high level of customer demand demonstrates that there is increased interest in environmentally friendly transport chains and potential of intermodal railway traffic via the port site in Rostock. In order to be able to do justice to this demand also in the future the extension of further intermodal capabilities is a major contribution to strengthening the ferry and ro-ro network. At the same time this also results in a reduction of CO2 emissions by transports routed through Rostock.
The large advantage of Rostock are the available railway track capacities at the port which allow for additional handling capabilities to be developed even at short notice.
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 started a service to Karlsruhe (4).
For further informationen pls. have a look at https://intermodal-rostock.de
Handling results Intermodal Transport 2024
Dent in demand
due to higher energy and train path prices
There was a slight decline in handling of intermodal transport. With around 112,000 units, around three percent less were handled than in the same period last year.
This slight decline is to be attributed to the difficult economic environment, to building activities in the immediate hinterland of the port and higher energy and train path prices.
Up to 20,000 tons of coal can be discharged daily at berths 23 and 24. The rebuilding of berth 23, which is 270 metres long, was largely completed by the end of 2019. During the first six months of 2020, further work was done on paving of surfaces and railway track construction as well as dredging to a water depth of 14.50 metres. In the course of the building work the load-bearing capacity of the quay surface is increased from two to five tonnes per square meter.
Bridge cranes are used for unloading sea gravel, limestone and crushed stone at berth 22. In the middle of pier III a storage area with a capacity of 300,000 tons of anthracite coal exists. Conveyor belts carry the coal to the adjacent 500 MW hard coal-fired power station. A processing facility for sea gravel and storage facilities for building materials, agricultural products, fertilizer and other bulk goods are located at berth 21, which is equipped with a harbour mobile crane with a lifting capacity of up to 84 tons.
The port has an open storage capacity of 420,000 m² as well as a covered storage capacity of 55,000 m² available for bulk goods.
In addition to the handling of coal, building materials, fertiliser and grain are among the most important bulk cargo handled in the Port of Rostock.
Handling results Dry Bulk 2024
5.05 million tonnes
eleven percent below previous year
At 5.05 million tonnes, bulk goods handling was 11 percent below the very good previous year. There were losses in the handling of coal, cement and fertilizers.
Grain remains the dominant dry bulk cargo at the Overseas Port.
General Cargo
Pier II is the heart of general cargo handling. Here are mainly metals, forest products and project cargo as well as container handled. But Pier II is mainly characterized by the transshipment of wind turbines.
Cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 100 tonnes ensure the fast handling of goods. By using two mobile harbour cranes in tandem it is possible to load goods of up to almost 300 tonnes. Furthermore, there are two cranes available for loading and unloading at berth 16, which can be equipped with hooks or grapples. Here, among other things, sheet metal and pipes for EEW Special Pipe Construction GmbH are handled.
Three solid sheds, each 360 meters long, with land and water-side track and road connections, are used for transhipment and storage. A total of 600,000 square meters of open storage and 120,000 square meters of covered storage for general cargo are available at the Rostock seaport.
High & Heavy
With berths 10, 15 and 25, the port offers three berths for the handling of particularly large and heavy goods. At berth 15, the heavy-duty areas were upgraded by ROSTOCK PORT GmbH. This is where a special quay with a heavy-duty rail track was built for a Liebherr crane with a lifting capacity of up to 1,600 tonnes,. This improves the possibilities for handling extremely heavy project cargo as well as the attractiveness of the location for further company relocations for the production and assembly of heavy cargo.
Container
Containers can also be handled at several terminals in the Overseas Port of Rostock. At the General Cargo Terminal of the handling company Euroports Germany, containers are loaded with the help of mobile harbor cranes. In addition, the units can be transported via the close-knit intermodal network with more than 40 weekly train connections and the closely scheduled ferry and roro connections to Denmark, Sweden and Finland with up to 20 departures per day.
The Overseas Port of Rostock not only operates as a transhipment point, but also as a collection and distribution center. In addition, services for packing and reloading of containers and for customs clearance are offered at the site. Partners operate a container depot directly in the port in order to be able to react flexibly to demand. The port of Rostock thus acts as an ideal transport hub for collecting and distributing containers to northern and central Europe.
Handling results General Cargo / High & Heavy 2024
100,000 less
in high value-creating general cargo
Handling of high-value-added 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.
The oil harbour possesses a tank store with a capacity of 700,000 cubic meters available for the storage and throughput of mineral oils such as heating oil, diesel and motor fuel. Crude oil, liquid fertiliser and other liquids are handled here as well.
The berths at the oil harbour can accommodate six tankers with up to 100,000 tonnes and has a handling capacity of up to 6,000 tonnes per hour. The handling of liquids occurs by means of tank car, pipelines (Schwedt, Böhlen) and by tank truck.
Grosstanklager Ölhafen Rostock GmbH, a subsidiary of Eurports Germany GmbH, is the operator of the oil harbour and provides services for all mineral oil companies using the Port of Rostock.
The oil harbour is also the location of a biodiesel plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes of biodiesel and approx. 25,000 tonnes of raw glycerine in feeding stuff quality.
Handling results Liquid Cargo 2024
6 million tonnes of crude oil for PCK refinery
for securing the supply to eastern Germany
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.
