Maritime Perpectives
Niedersachsen possesses the important seaports of the North Sea, a significant shipbuilding industry and it is the economic and logistic back-country for the huge ports in Hamburg and Bremen.
In order to find out how the future of this structure can be secured, the state of Niedersachsen commissioned a study for this topic. The NordLB as leader, together with the MR Association for Regional consulting mbH, the Ernst Basler + Partner AG, as well as Niedersachsen’s Institute for economic research, delivered their analysis in September.
The report provides for the first time an overview of the maritime industry and it analyses the development and the potential of the whole cluster in detail. One of the results: the importance of networks is growing. Management of the maritime cluster shall develop the potentials further.
The Maritime Industry represents a multitude of sectors: Ports, shipping, shipbuilding, industrial offshore underwater technology, ice and polar technology are part of it, as well as offshore wind energy, maritime aqua-culture, blue biotechnology, hydrography, maritime process control and safety technology, maritime environmental protection technology, coastal management and water engineering. Philipp Rösler, Minister for Economic Affairs, and Lutz Stratmann, Minister for Research, presented the study together: "Due to its long tradition, Niedersachsen possesses a good access to the growth potentials of the maritime economy.
This is of course connected to the state’s outstanding research institutes".
The potential of the maritime economy in Niedersachsen is shown in numbers: The study identifies 893 companies with some 40,000 employees in the maritime sector in Niedersachsen all in all.
40,000 employees
The strongest segments are the maritime services, the port industry and the shipbuilding suppliers. The highest employment rate was seen in the shipbuilding industry with approximately 6,900 workers in the shipyards and 7,150 employees among the subcontractors. On a national scale, the shipyards in Niedersachsen achieve the highest turnover with 1.41 billion Euro.
The 120 shipping companies with 1,200 ships follow with approximately 6.370 employees ashore and at sea, and make Niedersachsen Germany’s second largest shipowning location right after Hamburg. Other important maritime industries in terms of employment are the port industry with 5,470 employees, and the 67 maritime science, research and educational institutes which employ 2,656 members of staff.
Shipbuilding state Number one
Concerning the current situation of the most important maritime sector, the shipbuilding industry, Rösler states: "Niedersachsen is Germany’s shipbuilding state Number one. Thus, I will continue to strongly advocate the survival of the shipyards in our state". The report points out that there are structural problems and overcapacities in the shipbuilding sector. The prognosis: "The economic trough will be reached quickly after the strong decline in demand during the last months." The experts recommend support by the state for reorganization. This is currently being discussed at the Nordseewerke in Emden and the Hegemann-Werftengruppe in Berne.
The state, together with investors and the employees struggle for the shipbuilding’s future at these locations. Governmental guarantees and the establishment of new business pillars by building offshore wind power plants are being debated about. Christian Wulff, Niedersachsen’s prime minister, supports the shipbuilding sector: "Fighting for the shipbuilding location Emden is worthwhile".
According to the report there are good chances for the state’s maritime industry - in spite of the obvious global crisis in the shipbuilding and shipowning sector: the companies and universities simply have to be largely connected. Thus, the new objective stated by the federal state government is to achieve an ideal network and more cooperation with research institutes - and this also across the federal borders with other German federal states having maritime potentials.
Says Rösler: "We want a sustainable strengthening of companies in the region in order to make more growth and employment possible for the maritime economy in northern Germany".
Three areas of industry’s aggregation
The report identifies three greater areas of regional industry’s aggregation ashore: Ems-Achse (Ems axis), Jade-Weser and Unterelbe (lower Elbe river). The Ems-Achse established its position among Germany’s most significant shipbuilding locations. More than 4,500 shipyard workers are currently employed and almost 1,900 workers from the supplying industry can be added. The shipyards mainly focus on high-technology shipbuilding.
A multifaceted network of suppliers was created around the Papenburger Meyer Werft GmbH and the TKMS Blohm + Voss Nordseewerke GmbH in Emden. The Ems area developed into Germany’s second largest shipping location after Hamburg, but the shipping companies and the maritime services are mainly located in Leer and Haren (Ems), as well as in Emden. In the realisation of offshore wind parks near the western North Sea shore, Emden acts as base port for the handling and production of wind power plants.
The second agglomeration is the Jade-Weser area with 160 maritime companies and about 7,100 employees. The region, located near Bremen and the port Bremerhaven, gets a new impulse through the large-scale project deep water harbour JadeWeserPort a joint project by the states of Niedersachsen and Bremen. The JadeWeserPort is expected to develop into the main hub for the sea transit traffic with the North and Baltic Sea ports. The project emphasises Niedersachsen’s role as European hub in logistics and energy supply.
The region Unterelbe is the third regional agglomeration. The area profits from its proximity to Hamburg. There is an especially high intensity of maritime activity in the harbour city Cuxhaven - the starting point for sea traffic to Great Britain, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea’s riparian states.
In the future, Cuxhaven will profit even more from its central function as base port for off-shore wind parks. Along the lower Elbe, there are numerous big and small shipping companies located at the traditional location for the shipping industry, they have to be acknowledged as an essential part of the whole shipping industry of the metropolitan area Hamburg - especially Stade, Jork and Drochtersen, as well as Buxtehude.
Combining research and education
A main focus of the study lies on the analy-
sis of ways to connect systematically the existing structures of education and research with the regions and industries. Lutz Stratmann, Niedersachsen’s Minister for Research, points out the assets of this connection: "The maritime economy already cooperates successfully with 63 colleges and universities." Offering ideal conditions for maritime research is the objective of Niedersachsen’s economic research policy.
It focuses on oceaneering subjects, the areas hydraulic engineering and shore management, as well as deep sea navigation. The discipline of oceaneering deals with applied research - as it happens at the Centre for wind energy research ForWind, at the German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI), at the DEWI-OCC Offshore and Certification Centre GmbH and at the Senckenberg Institute in Wilhelmshaven, as well as the research centre "Terramare" for maritime environmental research. In terms of education, Niedersachsen is competent in the area of seaman’s education. The Leeraner Institut for Navigation and the faculty for navigation in Elsfleth are special university institutions for the sectors nautics and technical ship operation.
Cluster development
The report not only delivers a review of the situation of the maritime cluster in Niedersachsen. The experts also worked out solutions for the cluster development. Their quintessence on how to emerge from the crisis is as follows: "Highly specialized companies and contractors of skill-intensive products and services, especially in oceaneering, experience smaller decreases in demand and less structural adjustment. All in all, Niedersachsen’s maritime economy possesses the best potentials for development in those sectors, by using special knowledge which can not be copied directly."
Following this basic idea, the study developed 15 tangible projects (see box). The most important one: The "State initiative Maritime Economy" will become a key project. It institutionalises the cluster management, it shall give an impulse to the other projects and connect them nationally and internationally to other riparian states and their activities. The state relies on a new motor, which shall lead the traditional sector from the crisis to a new future.
Issue 4 | Oktober 2009 | Niedersachsen Global
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