SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

unique interface position between industry
and government, had been seen as another
sign of waning Berlin support for the maritime
sector.
Last year was a positive year for German
shipping, despite “many a pessimistic
prophecy”, said Heinrich Nöll, head of the
shipowners’ association VDR.
His organisation, with more than 200
members, does not agree with those who
say a decline in shipping fortunes is now
likely. VDR spokesman Max Johns has said
“all the indications are that German shipping
companies will continue to benefit
from the container boom and make big
profits”.
Ten per cent rise
The number of ships in the German merchant
fleet rose ten per cent last year to
almost 3,000 vessels of more than 50 million
GT. That will soon pass or has already
passed the 60 million GT mark. Hundreds
of mainly big container
ships are also on order
or being built for German
owners. As of
December there were
727, the VDR said.
It does not believe
they will saturate the
Heinrich Nöll
of VDR.
market. Nöll said owners
were considering
slower speeds to coun-
teract bunker costs and suggested there
could, in fact, be too few ships to meet
demand, rather than too many.
Others, however, among them Burkhard
Lemper at the Bremen Institute of Shipping
Economics and Logistics (ISL),
believe some overcapacity could well result
from the many new ships entering service.
Slower speeds are apparently not the
Angela Merkel paid tribute to shipping companies for flagging back, at the Fifth National
Maritime Conference in December.
only way of minimise the burden of rising
bunker costs, which the VDR says mean an
additional USD 50,000 a day for big boxships.
A novel solution being embraced
this year by Bremen owner Beluga Shipping
is SkySails, a kite towing system which
is said to reduce fuel costs by 10–15 per
cent.
Bunker costs remain a serious issue but
the biggest threat to German shipping, one
which could wipe out all the recent gains,
is the chronic lack of personnel. Big bucks
are now being spent to solve that particular
problem.
Combating lack of staff
The VDR has said about 650 new seafarers
are needed each year as the fleet gets bigger
and older personnel retire. Last year about
150 graduates were produced and this year
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the figure will be 200. “Combating this is a
priority target for shipowners and the politicians
in the interest of Germany as a shipping
location”, said the VDR.
An unprecedented and concerted effort
is now underway at all levels to win
recruits and provide more facilities to train
them, before the shortage brakes shipping
growth. Berlin, Germany’s coastal states,
shipping companies, the VDR and the
unions have all thrown their weight
behind it.
The VDR and its members have
pledged EUR 3 million over the next three
years to support the expansion of study
places and facilities in the coastal states.
Backing that is a pledge by the federal
states themselves to increase study places
from 357 to 430 this year and by another
187 up to 2009.
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SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 21, 2007 57