Where do China's containers enter Germany

Key findings

1. Hamburg was the leading German gateway for all ten China cargo segments profiled, handling between 53% and 89% of each segment's TEU from November 2025 to October 2026.
2. China-origin containers discharged at German ports totaled 606,621 TEU, down 4.3% from 633,927 TEU a year earlier.
3. Automotive and parts rose 32.6% to 32,102 TEU, the only large segment to grow. Bremerhaven's automotive volume more than doubled, from 6,004 to 12,736 TEU.
4. Passenger vehicles (HS 8703) went from 363 TEU to 7,981 TEU. 92% discharged at Bremerhaven and 78% loaded at Ningbo.
5. Tyres and rubber fell 36.4%, toys 18.3%, and apparel, footwear and travel goods 17.2%.

Source: Vizion TradeView container bookings and shipping instructions, China origin, November 2025 to October 2026 vs November 2024 to October 2025, 354,906 container movements.

How much China cargo arrives at German ports?

Over the 12 months to October 2026, 606,621 TEU loaded in China was discharged at a German port, down 4.3% year over year. Of that, 77,660 TEU declared an onward destination outside Germany, a reminder that Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven also serve as entry points for Central and Eastern European cargo.

Another 7,677 TEU declared a German inland destination but was discharged in another country, mostly Rotterdam and Antwerp.

The ten industry segments in this analysis cover 355,105 TEU of China cargo bound for Germany or without a declared onward country. Furniture, bedding and lighting is the largest at 77,555 TEU, followed by other machinery and electrical equipment at 69,625 TEU.

Which cargo segments grew and which fell?

Eight of the ten segments declined. Automotive and parts was the only large segment to grow, up 32.6%. Semiconductors and photovoltaic cells also rose 5.6%, from a much smaller base.

Chart summary: Automotive and parts grew 32.6% to 32,102 TEU while furniture, machinery, apparel, toys and tyres all declined year over year.

Alt text: Bar chart: automotive and parts grew 32.6% to 32,102 TEU while furniture, machinery, apparel, toys and tyres declined year over year.

The steepest declines came in consumer goods and tyres:

• New pneumatic tyres (HS 4011) fell 54.1%, from 6,838 to 3,136 TEU. Loadings at Qingdao dropped from 2,497 to 884 TEU.
• Toys (HS 9503) fell 17.8% to 8,864 TEU. Yantian loads 64.5% of the category.
• Trunks, cases and travel bags (HS 4202) fell 23.3% to 5,739 TEU.
• Other machinery and electrical equipment lost 9,757 TEU, the largest absolute decline of any segment.

Furniture held steadier than the segment total suggests. Other furniture (HS 9403) rose 1.1% to 32,332 TEU and seats (HS 9401) rose 0.4% to 20,315 TEU.

Which German port handles the most China cargo?

Hamburg was the top gateway in every segment, from 53.4% of automotive and parts to 88.6% of toys, sports goods and pyrotechnics. Bremerhaven ranked second in all ten. Wilhelmshaven placed third in most segments, with its largest shares in domestic appliances (8.8%) and automotive (6.6%).

The segments least dependent on Hamburg are the two where Bremerhaven is strongest: furniture (28.2% via Bremerhaven) and automotive (39.7%).

Where is China's automotive cargo landing?

Automotive and parts added 7,895 TEU year over year while total China cargo into Germany declined. Nearly all of that growth landed outside Hamburg.

Chart summary: Bremerhaven's China automotive and parts volume rose 112% to 12,736 TEU while Hamburg was flat at 17,156 TEU.

Alt text: Column chart: Bremerhaven's China automotive and parts volume rose 112% to 12,736 TEU; Hamburg was flat at 17,156 TEU; Wilhelmshaven rose to 2,132 TEU.

The shift is driven by finished vehicles. Containerized passenger vehicles (HS 8703) rose from 363 TEU to 7,981 TEU. Bremerhaven discharged 7,348 TEU of that, and Ningbo loaded 6,183 TEU.

Batteries followed a similar path. Electric accumulators (HS 8507) rose 67.6% to 4,551 TEU, with Bremerhaven's volume more than doubling to 1,270 TEU and Xiamen loadings rising from 531 to 1,927 TEU.

Motor-vehicle parts (HS 8708) moved differently: volume fell 4.0% to 11,808 TEU, but Wilhelmshaven's share rose from 468 to 1,625 TEU.

Where does China cargo go after it leaves the port?

Most ocean shipping documents name a discharge port, and fewer name a final inland address. Across the 12 months, 48,371 TEU of China cargo declared a German inland place of delivery, down from 59,196 TEU a year earlier.

That cargo follows a different gateway pattern from the market as a whole. Bremerhaven handled 26,832 TEU of it, more than double Hamburg's 10,580 TEU. Rotterdam and Antwerp together carried 7,635 TEU.

Chart summary: Bremerhaven handled 26,832 TEU of China cargo with a declared German inland destination, ahead of Hamburg at 10,580 TEU.

Alt text: Column chart: Bremerhaven handled 26,832 TEU of China cargo declaring a German inland destination, ahead of Hamburg at 10,580, Rotterdam 5,453, Wilhelmshaven 3,282 and Antwerp 2,182.

Furniture, bedding and lighting has the highest declared inland share of any segment at 24.6%, with Bavarian and Hessian destinations leading. Semiconductors and photovoltaic cells follow at 17.7%, with new declared destinations in Leipzig and Radeberg.

Two port-to-inland links grew among shipping-instruction records: Hamburg to Braunschweig (337 to 929 TEU) and Rotterdam to Ludwigshafen (633 to 1,033 TEU).

Corridor-level and company-level routing for these flows is available in TradeView.

Methodology

What the data covers. Container movements loaded at a Chinese port with either a German discharge port or a declared German place of delivery, drawn from TradeView booking and shipping-instruction records. Periods are assigned by vessel unload date.

How this relates to arrivals. This view counts only containers with recorded load, discharge and gate-out events, so figures reflect cargo that arrived rather than forward booking intent. Where a booking covers several containers, its TEU is allocated across them.

Segments. Industry segments are built from HS product codes and are mutually exclusive. Cargo outside the ten profiled segments (181,532 TEU) is excluded from segment figures.

Known gaps. Inland places are declared on shipping documents and are not confirmed deliveries. Figures represent the population observed in TradeView and are not a substitute for official German import statistics.

New to this kind of data? Read What is forward booking data? and see how TradeView works.

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