News / European importers face backlogs as rail delays exacerbate port congestion

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At major ports in Germany, port and rail infrastructure disruptions are causing significant delays – exacerbating an already pressing congestion concern for European importers.  

“Yards are full, and berthing line-ups are fully utilised,” Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) warned those shipping to Germany in its Port Update today.  

The forwarder noted that subsequent “persistent ship delays and delivery restrictions” have made transport planning “challenging” and “postponements necessary”. 

The country’s current port congestion concerns are largely due to issues with rail connections at its major ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven.  

Rail access to Hamburg Waltershof station will be completely closed from 4 to 8 July due to construction works, during which time the Hamburg terminals CTA, CTB and Eurogate will not be accessible by rail. 

According to HHLA, Hamburg Port Railway transported 2.6m containers in 2024, equivalent to 7,123 per day. Thus a four-day shutdown could lead to a buildup of just under 30,000 containers that are either waiting for a train or have to be moved by truck. 

Danish carrier Maersk advised that the impact on rail transport will likely be felt from 2 July to 9 July as preparations start and operations pick up after the construction work. 

At CTA, carriers have reported waiting times of one day “and high yard density”, while at CTB the average waiting time is around four days and “yard density is stable but high”, according to K+N. 

At the latter terminal, rail delays are currently 16 hours. 

“Due to a lack of productivity in the terminals and rail construction, trains are usually delayed and not handled fully. This can result in additional trains being cancelled, shortened, and postponed, and capacities reduced,” said K+N.

“These conditions have meant that rail connections currently require pre-booking times of up to three weeks,” it urged.  

Additionally, wildfires this week along the rail route into Hamburg have prevented the smooth flow of train traffic, and overhead line damage in several areas due to a storm this week have further affected rail operations to/from Hamburg. 

On top of this, the Hamburg Port Authority introduced a “dispositive inflow control system” this week, which manages the flow of trains irrespective of their planned slots, but K+N warned this could yet again lead to further delays.  

Meanwhile, in Bremerhaven, one of Gemini’s main European hubs, some vessels have been waiting up to almost three days for a berth. 

K+N explained that a switch malfunction near Bremen-Burg made the route to and from Bremerhaven impassable for several hours this week.  

“The route is now open in one direction for a single train per hour. This has resulted in a significant backlog, with many late arrivals at the terminals,” it said.  

Some of the congestion here is also caused by an influx of calls from Hamburg-bound vessel diversions after news of the planned rail closure there. Maersk had previously advised customers to “change their ocean bookings from Hamburg to Bremerhaven where possible”.  

On a positive note, the new Eurogate rail terminal at Bremerhaven, opened on 30 June, is set to “significantly improve rail transhipment capacity and port productivity in general” once it is fully functional. 

This terminal is set to have an annual capacity of some 300,000 containers per year, equivalent to 904 per day when it is operating at full capacity.  A notable advancement at this facility is the introduction of four remote-controlled railway cranes operated from control centres.