Circular City Ports - Workbook

City-port context of Hamburg
The city and the port as a whole toward
smart transitions
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1 Description of location in relation to other
(sea/) ports
The port of Hamburg is a seaport located on the Elbe
river, and it is third busiest port in Europe (in terms
of TEU throughput). This port represent a crucial
node for transhipment and warehousing, due to its
strategic location. The Hamburg port has also an important
role regarding the cruise dynamics, in fact,
from Hamburg many international routes starts.
Furthermore, the port represent an important source
of employment in the areas ( 5-10%) and value added.
2 Description of current activities
The main activity taking place in the port of Hamburg
is related to container traffic, cargo and container
throughput. It is specialised, moreover, in dry bulk
materials, it also plays an important role in the short
sea shipping dynamics. Hamburg port is part of an
international network of ports, playing a key role,
building up new connections and exchanges.
3 Description demographic/socio-economic
dynamics.
In contrast to many other ports, which grew out of
the city, after which they were named, Hamburg has
remained a port city until today. Harbour and city are
interwoven.
4 Why, and in what way is circularity looked at?
The port authority wants a modal shift, to make every
transport mode more sustainable. Energy transition
is a key environmental strategic topic and the
Hamburg port authority is committed to the initiative
SmartPost for a reorientation of energy use at
the Port of Hamburg. The port authority is promoting
more environmentally friendly mobility. Furthermore,
in order to reduce energy consumption, some investments
toward a shore-power-supply infrastructure
have been done, Hamburg is the first port in Europe
to utilise power barges as shore-power facility for
ships.
The port authority is also diving the freedom to each
single owner to use their own self-generate power,
managed by a common energy management system.
The port authority has been investing in an An
additional strategy, investing in e-vehicles for the
port logistic, developing the specific infrastructure
needed.
5 Who gives substance to this, which partnerships/programmes/initiatives
are made?
The development of more sustainable and circular
initiatives in the port of Hamburg have been mostly
sustained by the port authority. They are providing
different type of incentives in order to start a transition
toward sustainability and circularity. In this
sense, the Authority is redeveloping many of the port
systems and infrastructure and in a more sustainable
way, as a starting point. furthermore, in order to
build a stronger exchange between the city and the
port, and the citizens and the productions activities,
they build up a common agenda, which in taking into
account common issue to be tackled, constituting
common strategies for the city and the port.
6 Is there already a discourse around cityports?
(Yes/no) Who is behind it and what are the ambitions/motives?
In the port of Hamburg many former port areas have
been used for larger waterfront development, following
a more general European trend. The main example
of this dynamic in Hamburg is the
“Hafencity” project. It is important to highlight in this
case the need for land-use planning, that is keeping
industrial activities also in those “left-behind” spaces.
The port Authorities is well aware of this imminent
need, and they are already looking at new governance
mechanism in order to keep productive
activities in the city and not sub-urbanise the rest of
the areas surrounding the port