The German Port of Hamburg has revised its predictions of freight container volumes downwards. This contrasts sharply with estimates earlier in the year from the port operator, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), which suggested a 5% year-on-year growth for 2012.
In the second quarter of 2012, the German economy posted growth of 0.3%, a better than expected performance but nevertheless inferior to the first quarter (+0.5%).