Germany's JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven to take on Rotterdam in boxes
THE German town of Wilhelmshaven, already the country's biggest importer of petroleum products, coal, chemicals and crude oil, now plans to take on the major Dutch Port of Rotterdam in containers.
JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven is the only deepwater container terminal in Germany located just 23 sea miles from the German Bight. There are plans to catapult the port into the world's top ranks of box ports to handle container vessels with a capacity of 18,000 TEU from Danish shipping giant Maersk, reports Agence France-Presse.
Wilhelmshaven's 18-metre-deep port will allow the huge box vessels to dock fully loaded independent of the tide at any time of the day.
While Maersk's Triple-E class megaships are committed to dock at the Eurogate Container Terminal, right behind the terminal is a 160 hectare logistics area where a trimodal freight village is being established with 27 hectares already rented.
Among others, Nordfrost is building one of the most modern cold storage complexes in Europe and further 50 hectares are in negotiation. There are already four of totally 16 container cranes ready for the trial operations. They are the latest giant 83-metre high cranes fresh in from China.
"We're in talks with other carriers, but we haven't yet signed any concrete agreements," said Marcel Egger, director of the port operator Eurogate. The port is to go into operation at the end of September.
Maersk Line sees Wilhelmshaven as a spill-over port. "Volumes are increasing. We'll be using Wilhelmshaven for additional volumes," said a spokesman.
Bremen-based Institute for Maritime Transport and Logistics analyst, Soenke Maatschm, said: "In the long term, the German coast has need for additional capacity. From that point of view, the project makes sense. It's just the timing isn't so good."
According to Dredging Today, loading trials have begun with the docking of the Pictor J, belonging to the Unifeeder that brought 75 empty containers from Hamburg for the longshore tests.
DATE:2012.6.19
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