SSG No 20 - Shipgaz

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