www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

WORLD> Europe
In depths of gloom, German firms gear for recovery
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-12 13:45

HAMBURG, Germany -- With economic doom in every headline, export-led businesses here are preparing for the end. Hamburg shipyard worker Sebastian Kerzel says he and his colleagues are working flat out.

General view taken from a container bridge shows the Container Terminal Burchardkai at Hamburg harbour in this January 14, 2008 file photo. [Agencies]

"Since the economic crisis began, we've been really busy. New orders keep coming in," said the 27-year-old machine worker at a ship construction and repair plant in Hamburg, Germany's biggest port.

"We're at full stretch. There've been no cuts to working hours," smiled Kerzel, one of a stream of workers pouring out of shipyards here at the end of their shift.

Business is terrible for Hamburg, Europe's second-biggest container port after Rotterdam which handles around 10 percent of Germany's foreign trade especially with China and Russia.

But many German companies are emphasizing the need to be ready to cope with increased demand once the world economy picks up again.

"As management we need to be bold and make further, targeted investments in these difficult times," said Manfred Kuhr, deputy chairman of BLG Logistics Group, which handles 80 percent of the goods at the port of Bremerhaven.

Industry orders for Germany, which has been the world's biggest exporter of goods since 2003, in December posted their biggest annual decline since reunification as demand for manufactured goods continued to slide.

Shipyards typically lag behind the cycle and VSM, the German shipbuilding association, says new orders have eased after production hit a record high last year. But it adds that suppliers to the shipbuilding industry are particularly busy.

Even if the recession is shaping up to be Germany's deepest since World War Two and export-led economy Germany may be, as UBS analysts put it in a January 28 note, "in the middle of a perfect storm," some in the eye of that storm see opportunity.

BLG's Kuhr in Bremerhaven is exposed to one of the toughest sectors: it is Germany's biggest port for importing and exporting autos, sales of which have slumped by nearly one quarter globally.

"I can't remember us having a downturn like this," Kuhr said. "I've been in the business for 35 years -- we haven't had anything like this before."

But even though business volumes are down, he expects the downturn to bottom out in the middle of this year, and says BLG is investing in car-transport infrastructure in Russia.

HINTS OF RECOVERY

"I really shouldn't do it," he said. "But people will buy cars again. So I need to do it. I have to take on debt, though try to limit it, and hold back on other investments here.

"And then I'll be ready (for a recovery) and can make money right away, because I got in on favorable terms."

There are already some possibly unreliable hints a recovery is on the horizon, or at least that the downturn is reaching a low-point.

In January, German corporate morale measured by the Munich-based Ifo economic institute's business climate index rose for the first time in eight months, lifted by improving business expectations.

On Tuesday, the Baltic Dry Freight Index, the Baltic Exchange's leading shipping index and a volatile gauge of prices to ship commodities like iron ore, coal and grain on major export routes, rose by more than 8 percent to a four-month high.

"The scenario is not that good for 2009 but it is also not that terribly bad," said Juergen Sorgenfrei, chairman of Port of Hamburg Marketing, which compiles statistics on the port and is backed by the city authorities and port operators.

The port authorities are planning infrastructure investments after booming business in recent years resulted in bottlenecks.

"We need to be ready (for a recovery)," said Sorgenfrei.

BARGAINS

Thomas Straubhaar, director of the Hamburg-based HWWI economic think tank, said there was no getting away from the fact that German exports are diving.

"But this dive comes from an unbelievably high level," he said. "After this drop in 2009, there will be a recovery in 2010 because emerging markets will quickly develop further. For that, these countries need modern, and not old, investment goods.

"So Germany will continue to play a dominant role in supplying the world with investment goods, with plant equipment, with infrastructure," said Straubhaar, who is Swiss.

German firms could even gain market share in the long run.

"German industry has a very good chance to come out of this stronger against its competitors because the product range is broader and more competitive, and because German mid-sized firms have specialized very well in recent years," he said.

BLG's Kuhr also hopes the logistics group's investment will allow it to emerge stronger from the crisis.

"I am getting that on favorable terms," he said. "When things get going again, I am prepared."

主站蜘蛛池模板: 99re热这里只有精品视频 | 亚洲最大的视频网站 | 99ri在线观看| 五月久久噜噜噜色影 | 久久免费视频在线观看30 | 九九色综合 | 亚欧美视频| 国产在线精品一区二区中文 | 国产欧美日本亚洲精品五区 | 日本乱子伦xxxx | 欧美日韩在线播放一区二区三区 | 99久久免费视频在线观看 | 欧美视频在线一区二区三区 | 国产亚洲高清不卡在线观看 | 精品亚洲成a人片在线观看 精品亚洲成a人在线播放 | 免费看黄网 | 欧美日韩中 | japanese色系tube护士 | 免费在线一级片 | 日韩成人在线播放 | 欧美一级免费观看 | 日韩亚洲综合精品国产 | 久久久网站 | 亚洲精品国产成人中文 | 欧美成人免费网在线观看 | 在线观看精品自拍视频 | 国产成人免费福利网站 | 欧美午夜在线播放 | 中文字幕亚洲一区二区三区 | 久久亚洲精品中文字幕 | 日韩性片 | 国产精品久久久久9999小说 | 免费区欧美一级毛片精品 | 国产欧美久久久精品 | 欧美一级看片a免费观看 | 本道久久综合88全国最大色 | 午夜爽爽爽视频 | 特级无码a级毛片特黄 | 成人久久伊人精品伊人 | 国内精自线一二区 | 老司机黄色影院 |