After arduous ascents Start of the jadeweserport. Six years after Germany’s only deep-water port has commenced operations, it is located in, and is committed to growth.
Who’s driving on the last kilometers of the Federal highway 29, is often lonely on the road. Here is the traffic and congestion is little it doesn’t exist. This pleases not only the motorists, but also the operator of the jade-Weser-port Wilhelmshaven. “The direct access from the motorway is ideal. There is no urban transport, which is hindered by the port, and Vice versa.” And also, stresses the managing Director of the JadeWeserPort-marketing company, Andreas Bullwinkel: “We are tied with two tracks to the network of Deutsche Bahn.”
“We say even of us – and no one has objected so far – to have the best to the German Hinterland linked to a container terminal,” he says with a grin. And the eyes are Andreas Bullwinkel, right: here, Everything is designed for the transport of goods, the car of the reporter is probably the only one far and wide, that no Goods are transported or self-transported.
Container waiting at the quay of jade-Weser-port on your onward transport into the Hinterland.
Calm between two Storms
On this Monday afternoon in March, it is in the JWP is very quiet, in the business sense: Just today, not much of a container made freighter. Meteorologically, but may not be from the rest of the speech: A rain Bank to the other, draws on the German North sea coast, storm deep “Eberhard” has not yet blown out, as the successor takes a deep “Franz” is already quite a deep breath.
For someone who sits in the Dry, the weather also aesthetic stimuli. Particularly in the fifth floor of the jade-Weser-port administration building: the view over the broad water and North to the free North sea sweeps, And it has a good view of the docks, the towering cranes and the quay stacked Container.
The depth of water in front of Wilhelmshaven
Here are the largest Container-ships, the there is currently. Because here you always have “a hand’s width of water under the keel”. “We have a guaranteed draught of 18 metres,” says Andreas bull angle. This is the main feature of this port, compared with the other German seaports. In addition, the ships would have to keep for security reasons, also still a bit of water under the keel. “These are usually 1.5 meters. So this means that we guarantee free and departure for vessels of up to 16.50 metres draught.”
Wherein, the stresses Andreas bullwinkel, “free – exit” here means that the ships turn and not be rotated. At the quay wall, the water is approximately 700 meters wide, the largest ship can turn independently and is not dependent on the help of tugs and Bugsierern.
The labors of Sisyphus
The port was taken in front of six and a half years in operation. For a long time it remained at the Jade estuary, very quiet. In the first quarter of 2013, only about 7000 TEU were handled. A TEU is a standard container of 20 feet length – a Parameter is to be able to the amount of container traffic to be compared.
The new port was quickly mocked as a “Ghost port”. The mockers, however, completely ignores the fact that the world economy, and particularly the shipowners, still suffered from the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008.
A new port to introduce, says Andreas Bullwinkel, the merchant knows as a skilled shipping company-the business from the other side, but it is particularly difficult, because all the “cargo flows need to be changed.” The only go, if a shipowner could build up to a port operator, also trust – and the last.
And in the last few years, it had become much more complicated: “The difficulty is the merger of several shipping companies to three alliances. Today, you speak with the shipping company groups that have different interests and are not within the group always agree. This is really a Sisyphus task.”
According to the preliminary low point of 2014, the turnover increased to pay for the Weser jadeport steadily. For the year 2018 Andreas Bullwinkel, accounted for a record: “We have achieved in the last year 655.000 TEU.”
The vagaries of world politics
The German ports, in General, the work seems currently not to be expected. Due to the forthcoming Brexit about quite surprising Bremerhaven could lead to new business: The English car maker Bentley want to miss the expected bottlenecks in the trade and has leased 100,000 square feet of additional storage space on the lower river Weser. Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark in the industry told the newspaper “automotive week” this week: “Instead of the usual shipping via Dover and Calais, we could switch quickly to the connection of Immingham-Bremerhaven.”
On the dike across the cranes of the deep-water port are to be seen until far into the country.
Wilhelmshaven could benefit from another Volte of world politics: EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has promised the U.S. President that Europe will buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. And Federal Minister Peter Altmaier has promised to appease the ways of the German import of Russian gas deeply outraged by Donald J. Trump, to create LNG-capacity in the German ports.
LNG storage and LNG gas station
JadeWeserPort-managing Director Andreas Bullwinkel, looks quite relaxed: “We are very well prepared.” The necessary prerequisites would be the port finally: “Wilhelmshaven would be suitable due to the deep water for LNG tankers very well. Here there are various systems, which could also be used for LNG in the short term converted. And I think, what can you play for the decision, are caverns in the salt that we have here. Which are now used for the storage of Oil.” In the conversation the port locations, Stade and Bremerhaven.
And a different Argument is bull angle. More and more shipowners to think about it, to operate their ships with heavy fuel oil, but with LNG. And these ships have to “be somewhere refueled. And it is not only good for each port, or a container port, if he is able to offer this opportunity.”