The Eurogate Group recorded a net profit of €73.5 million (US$83.5 million) for 2015, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%, according to results released by the company.

In Germany, Eurogate’s Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven terminals handled a total of 8.2 million TEUs, 1.5% more than in 2014. In total, the group’s European portfolio handled 2% fewer containers, at 14.5 million TEUs.

“Eurogate has achieved good operating results that will enable us in the coming years to make the group fit for the challenges of the future,” said Emanuel Schiffer, chairman of the Eurogate Group management board. “However, despite this positive result we cannot hide the fact that the market conditions in our industry have become more difficult. The global economy has lost its momentum. Consequently, the volume of goods being traded internationally is down, which leads among other things to a general slowdown in global container handling at the seaports. We are currently confronted by a mature market characterised by highly intense competition.”

According to Eurogate, the number of calls made by ships larger than 10,000 TEUs at the three German terminals grew by almost 35% in 2015, of which a third involved ships with a capacity of more than 18,000 TEUs. About 19% of these docked at Wilhelmshaven, Germany’s only deep-water terminal, resulting in a 536% jump in the terminal’s annual throughput.

“For us as terminal operators the challenges lie in coping with the resulting peak handling periods,” said Schiffer. “We need to be able to offer our customers high levels of productivity to ensure that deploying ULCVs delivers the results our customers are looking for.”

Eurogate’s network currently consists of 11 terminals in Germany, Italy, Russia, Portugal and Morocco, but the company said that it intends to further expand to take advantage of new investment opportunities, such as its participation in the tendering process for the privatization of Limassol Container Terminal in Cyprus, as well as its acquisition of a 16.67% share in Contrail Logística S.A., which provides transport services for the hinterland of Santos, the largest seaport in Brazil.