The Eurogate Group recorded a net profit of €75.9 million (US$80.9 million) in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 3.3%, according to financial results released by the company.

“Container shipping is currently going through a phase of transition,” said Michael Blach, chairman of the management board of the Eurogate Group. “Last year saw the start of an unprecedented wave of consolidation among the shipping lines. In the future, the main East-West trade lanes, which are so important to us, will be dominated by the three major alliances 2M, Ocean Alliance and The Alliance. For Eurogate this represents a great opportunity, because with our North Sea terminals in Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven we offer the alliances a wide range of capabilities for clearing their vessels – including the world’s biggest megaliners of the future with transport capacities in excess of 20,000 TEUs.”

According to the results, Eurogate Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven handled 481,720 TEUs in 2016, 12.9% more than 2015. On the other hand, Eurogate’s Bremerhaven terminal handled 5,487,198 TEUs, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6%, and Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg handled 2,265,439 TEUs, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9%.

In total, the Eurogate Group handled 14,610,609 TEUs, an increase of 0.4% over 2015.

According to Eurogate, 2017 will be a challenging year and the container industry will face many changes.

“In recent years, Eurogate has time and again proved its mettle in an intensive competitive environment,” said Blach. “To ensure that this remains so, we are aiming to continually improve our performance. We want to innovate and are focusing closely on the driving forces of technology and digitalisation. This also includes the introduction of automation processes. As the public is aware, we are currently planning a pilot project for the automation of straddle carriers at our Wilhelmshaven location. Further decisions on this have yet to be taken.”