SSG No 20 - Shipgaz

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PORTS & MARITIME LOGISTICS More records ahead as main projects seek green lights The planned key to future German mega ship business – the JadeWeser deepwater port. Threats to the timetables of two major port projects this autumn are disturbing generally good progress in Germany’s main ports, as many head again for new records. GERMANY Last-minute developments could, however, help defuse the threats which affect both the construction of the planned JadeWeser deepwater port (JWP) in Wilhelmshaven – the key to future German mega ship business – and also the timing of Elbe deepening in Hamburg – which offi cials say is urgent if big ships are to reach new and expanded terminals. German ports handled 157 million tons in the fi rst half of this year, 4.9 per cent more than in the same period of 2006 and last year’s overall 303 million ton fi gure now looks like being well surpassed. Container handling in the fi rst half of this year rose more than 13 per cent in terms of TEUs. Overall prospects for future growth and development are excellent. A new Planco study tips handling of 759 million tons by 2025 with Hamburg possibly leading even Rotterdam in containers. The fi gures lend weight to German warnings of port congestion and calls for improved hinterland links. The Berlin Government has now earmarked EUR 5.1 billion to back port and other regional efforts to improve hinterland transport up to 2010 as handling surges. EUR 2.2 billion is going on roads and also on rail while waterways are getting EUR 700 million. Courts settled construction dispute The threat to timely construction of the one billion Euro-deepwater JadeWeser Port (JWP) lessened somewhat as SSG went to press, when the courts settled a row over who should build it. A consortium headed by Hochtief in Essen was originally awarded the EUR 480 million building job. The beaten consortium, Bunte in Papenburg, complained of irregularities. After a legal row lasting all summer, the courts have now ruled the complaints were justifi ed and awarded the job to Bunte. When work will start, however, is still unclear. “As soon as possible, we hope”, said Lower Saxony Economics Minister Walter Hirche, whose state is ploughing EUR 510 million into the project. However, further objections to the project could still delay construction for months. The JWP is the key to Germany’s ability to be independent of Rotterdam in future. Without it, Germany will become a feeder location as mega ships go to Rotterdam. 52 SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • OCTOBER 26, 2007
Delay in building the JWP and failure to complete by 2010, could mean the loss of important RTW shipping business. It would also be a blow to nearby Bremen/ Bremerhaven, which is near saturation. For that reason, the Weser is investing EUR 90 million in the JWP. You would think, as the JWP struggles to be born, that given the doubledigit container growth in Germany and the need for facilities to rival Rotterdam, any proposal for another German deepwater hub would be applauded. Not so, apparently. Cuxhaven – boxship hub The Elbe Estuary port of Cuxhaven, which lost to Wilhelmshaven in 2001 in the battle to host the first deepwater port, came in for a political drubbing recently when its chief Heinrich Ahlers suggested it too now wanted to create a mega boxship hub, second only to the JWP. The proposal drew fire from both Cuxport part owner HHLA, which said it had no plans to develop Cuxhaven as a deepwater port, and from Lower Saxony premier Christian Wulff. He said “We will not support anything which could adversely affect the Wilhelmshaven deepwater port”. Ahlers had said Cuxport wanted to grow and planned big medium-term investment to turn it into Germany’s second deepwater port for mega ships. He said it was needed and that Wilhelmshaven would not cope on its own. Much of the planned development, like a fourth 240 m berth and an 85,000 sqm extension, have been around for a long time and will go ahead in any case, because Cuxhaven needs them. It all sounds very sensible. All that appears to rankle, at a delicate time, is any suggestion Cuxport might siphon off business from the future JWP. Elbe deepening could be delayed The second major threat, that to Elbe deepening in Germany’s biggest port, Hamburg, is also time-related. Deepening is now urgently needed to cope with ever bigger ships. However Port and Economics Senator Gunnar Uldall has warned it could be delayed until 2009 because of five thousand objections to the EUR 330 million project. Because of that, it would be “very difficult” to stick to the Hamburg mayor Ole von Beust says despite objections, Elbe deepening will start next year. timetable under which dredging will begin in 2008, he said. The late good news however came from a more optimistic Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust. He said deepening could still start next year but that the planning process will take longer. The idea is to deepen the Elbe’s main channel to handle bigger container ships drawing up to 14.5 m, or about a metre more than before. About 38 million cbm of sand and sediment will be dredged between Hamburg and Cuxhaven. Deepening will go ahead Both Uldall and von Beust say the deepening will go ahead. There is no alternative, Uldall says, predicting that without it, thousands of jobs will be lost and Hamburg will be bypassed in future by the ships of major owners. This, as Hamburg heads for another record year in which 10 million TEUs and overall handling of 140 million tons are on the cards after 69.5 million tons and 4.8 million TEUs were handled in the first half of 2007. EUR 2.9 billion is now earmarked for new and expanded terminals to cope with a predicted 18 million TEUs and 220 million tons expected overall by 2015. Part of this money will come from the sale, now expected in November, of 30 per PORTS & MARITIME LOGISTICS cent of the shares in main operator HHLA. Analysts say as much as a thousand million Euro could be raised. The hope was for more at the start of the year. However the Hamburg Senate, earlier this year had to back down from a plan to sell up to 49.9 per cent of HHLA to private investors after union protests and stoppages. LHG sale thwarted In Lübeck, Germany’s biggest Baltic sea port, authorities had the same idea as Hamburg with a plan to sell up to 90 per cent of main operator LHG to “strategic partners” to help raise a reported EUR 110 million for expansion to 2015. The port is headed for a record 32–33 million tons this year. By 2015 handling is expected to rise to 35–40 million tons. Under similar union and strike pressure as Hamburg, Lübeck was forced to agree to sell only 25.1 per cent of LHG and there has been little further word on progress in that sale since then. Local economist Wilhelm Wessel said the labour dispute and compromise had “reduced Lübeck’s development chances”. He said the minority share now on offer was “nowhere near as attractive to an investor as the originally discussed majority participation”. The Hamburg and Lübeck share sales both still have to run their courses and the consequences in terms of capital for port development remain uncertain. They will only become clear when the new partners Bremerhaven goes for another record year but raises worries about hinterlands in need of development. SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • OCTOBER 26, 2007 53
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