The Ports of Lübeck are the farthermost south-western transhipment hub located in the Baltic Sea and act as the central turntable especially for the traffic between the traditional economical metropolis in west- and central Europe and the fast developing economical region of the Baltic Sea. The overall cargo volume of the year 2009 totalled to a 26.3 million tons. The share of the LHG as operator of the public Ports of Lübeck amounted to 24.15 million tons. Additionally, about 360.000 passengers frequented the Ports of Lübeck.
The public ports operated by the LHG consist of four terminals with a total area of 170 hectares and 25 berths.
One of the most important factors for the success of the  largest German port at the Baltic Sea is the extremely dense departure rate of the liner services. The Ports of Lübeck offer about 130 departures per week from and to 25 partner ports around the entire Baltic Sea. The traffics of each destination are almost completely balanced, so that the freight capacities of both the vessels and the means of transport for the hinterland traffic are optimally working at full capacity.
Additionally, the Lübeck ports offer all advantages of a logistic centre, with the highest level of quality and know-how, especially concerning forest products such as paper and pulp. Lübeck is the largest transhipment and distribution centre for the Swedish and Finnish paper industry in Europe. 4.0 million tons cargo volume of forest products was achieved in the year 2009 in Lübeck.
The strength of Lübeck is the roll-on-roll-off traffic (RoRo): fast cargo, rolling on and off the vessels by truck, cassettes or railway wagons. Tailormade logistic systems guarantee the optimum service for the clients at 365 days of the year. Lübeck is the largest German container port in the Baltic Sea, handling more than 100.000 container-units (TEU) per year.
The location of the Ports of Lübeck offers high-class hinterland-connections. The three-lane motorway "A1" in direction of Hamburg connects Lübeck with the main economic centres in Europe. The rail net offers an especially high efficiency in the carload traffic as well as in the combined traffic. In addition, the Elbe-Lübeck-Canal provides a link to the European "inland waterways" network.