Swiss Port of Basel on its way back

2021 saw a comeback of cargo flows in the Port of Switzerland, the operator of the Swiss inland ports on the River Rhine in Basel.

The port authority’s three hubs handled 5.41 million t of goods in 2021, 5.5% more than the 5.1 million t in 2020, but less than the 6 million t achieved in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. Yet, the container sector surged by more than 10% in 2021 compared to 2020, amounting to more than 126,000 teu despite a period of low water in Q4/2021.

While the Auhafen Muttenz (1.7 million t, +13.6%) benefited from the positive development in the mineral oil freight segment, Birsfelden (1.9 million t, +3.3%) managed to increase cargo handling across all freight segments.

Around 1.5 million t were handled in the port of Kleinhüningen, which corresponds to an uptick of 2.3% compared to 2020. Exports grew by 9% or 76,000 t, while imports went up by 4.8% to a total of 4.5 million t.