Gold Magazine April - May 2013, Issue 25 | Seite 75

Signs

shipping

of Recovery

{economy}

After increased EU Ports activity in the
first nine months, the fourth quarter
saw a slowdown in the Netherlands,
Malta, Cyprus and Poland

By Kyproula Papachristodoulou

I

n 2011 the United Kingdom regained its position as the largest
maritime freight transport country
in Europe, after falling behind the
Netherlands in 2010. According to
the latest Eurostat estimates, the UK was followed by Italy and the Netherlands, with
shares of 13.5% and 13% respectively.
Spain remained the fourth largest maritime freight transport country in the EU in
2011 and France was the fifth largest. Ports in
Turkey handled 359 million tonnes of goods
in 2011, ranking it between France and Spain.
Eurostat says that the total weight of goods
handled in EU ports in 2011 is estimated at
3.7 billion tonnes, a rise of 1.7 % compared
with 2010.
There were continued year-on-year increases in EU port activity in the first three quarters
of 2011. However, this recovery came to an
end in the fourth quarter of the year, interrupting a pattern of growth which goes back
to the first quarter of 2010.
The growth in EU port activity in 2011
was mainly due to increased volumes in the
inward movement of goods. Despite the annual increases in the gross weight of goods

Seaborne Passenger
Transport

T

he volume of seaborne passenger
transport in the main EU-27 ports
decreased by 4.7 % from 2010 to
2011 and it was about the same
as in 2009-2010. The sustained fall in the
European maritime transport of passengers
in recent years has mainly been caused,
Eurostat says, by decreased transport to
or from ports in a number of the largest
maritime transport countries, such as Italy,
Greece, the UK and France. The number
of seaborne passengers transported to or
from the main ports of Italy fell by 8.0% to
41 million passengers in 2011, while the
volume of seaborne passenger transport
through Greek ports fell by 7.1% to 39
million passengers.

Cyprus had the highest
share of total tonnage
unloaded in 2011
handled in EU ports following the
economic downturn, overall port activity
in the EU was still lower in 2011 than the
level recorded 6 years earlier.
Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg maintained their positions as the three largest EU
ports in 2011, both in terms of the gross
weight of goods and the volume of containers handled. The 20 largest ports accounted
for 37% of the total tonnage of goods handled in the countries reporting data in 2011.
Rotterdam on its own accounted for 8.6% of
the total tonnage. The number of passengers
passing through EU ports is estimated at
more than 385 million in 2011, a decrease of
3.5% compared with 2010. The main reason
for the fall is a reduction in the numbers of
passengers embarking and disembarking in
Italy and Greece, the EU’s two leading countries for seaborne passenger transport.
Port activity grew in most European
countries in 2011. The largest increases were
recorded in Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia,
all with rises of more than 10.0% in the
tonnage of goods handled in their ports
compared with 2010 (from relatively low
levels). In contrast, decreases in port activity
were recorded in the Netherlands (-8.7%),
Malta (-7.1%), Cyprus (-5.6%) and Poland
(-3.0%). Port activity in the acceding state
of Croatia also decreased from 2010 to 2011
(-10.1%).
In general, more seaborne goods are unloaded than loaded in the majority of EU
countries. Cyprus had the highest share of
total tonnage unloaded in 2011, followed by
the Netherlands and Malta. However, for
Romania (agricultural products), the three
Baltic countries (oil products) and the EEA
country Norway (crude oil), outward movement of goods prevailed.

BOOK
REVIEW
Heavens on Earth:
How To Create Mass
Prosperity

Y

By J.P. Floru (Biteback, 2013)
RRP: £12.99 (£8.96 from amazon.co.uk)
ou may be surprised by the idea
of correlations between Britain’s Industrial Revolution,
2013 Communist
China, post-World
War II America and Pinochet-era economics but there are many surprising
revelations in this book which looks
at eight countries that have drastically reformed their economies to
create durable growth and prosperity: China, Hong Kong, New Zealand,
USA, Singapore, Germany, Chile and
the UK. The book explains how failing
countries became and are becoming
rich, with lots of anecdotes, entertaining facts and figures, and good oneliners (“When tax is 50%, you work
one day out of two for the state and
you are only half free.”) and it is also
positive, recommending a number of
ways in which prosperity can be increased: reducing the size of the state,
privatisation, cutting state spending,
deregulating, lowering taxes, ensuring
the rule of law, increasing safety, abandoning state privileges and promoting
free trade. This is not only a must-read
for anybody interested in politics or
economics at any level, it should be
required reading for every Cypriot
politician.

the international investment, finance & professional services magazine of cyprus

Gold 75