NGlobal Magazin 01-2010

Niedersachsen Global www.nglobal.de 12 Logistics crisis,” acknowledged Andreas Bullwinkel, Manag- ing Director of the seaport marketing firm Seaports of Niedersachsen. However: in terms of the seaward movement of freight to Hamburg the ports in Nieder- sachsen rank in third place — after Hamburg and Bremen. 74,400 (2006) employees in Niedersachsen depended directly or indirectly on the seaport busi- ness in the past year. The wind energy sector re- mained nearly unimpressed by the global recession. In 2008 the windmillers had 58,259 tons of freight to handle—35 percent more than in the previous year. Seaport Features Brake Hub for the import and export of agricultural products Commodities: forest products, steel, project cargos, wind energy Cuxhaven Base port for offshore wind energy development Centre for roll-on roll-off traffic, food logistics and food production, automobile logistics (BMW), cruise port Emden Car hub for the Volkswagen group Base port for offshore wind energy development Important port for bulk and breakbulk commodity transshipment (e.g. liquid chalk, forest products) Leer Municipal port for local and regional supply Nordenham Private port specialising in bulk commodities (coal) Coal imports, iron and steel as growth drivers Oldenburg Municipal port for local and regional supply Papenburg Home port of Meyer Ship Yard Municipal port for local and regional supply Stade Port for the aluminium industry Potential for expansion in bulk and breakbulk commodities Wilhelmshaven Largest transshipment seaport in Niedersachsen 1,100km inland waterways Inland shipping Transport volume (2006, without transit traffic): 27.2 million metric tons 80 inland harbours 13 transshipment ter- minals for multimodal transport Maritime shipping Transport volume (2008, without transit traffic): 62.3 million metric tons 9 seaports Particularly the offshore sector promises to be a huge growth market for the German industry. According to the Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagen- bau (VDMA—German Association of Mechanical En- gineering and Plant Construction) more than 40 bil- lion euros are planned to flow into the construction of offshore windparks by 2030. The designated place of loading for the multi-megawatt installations, which are as high as a church tower, is Cuxhaven in Nieder- sachsen. Here at the North Sea—right in the middle between the Elbe and Weser estuaries—the state and the EU have invested 48 million euros in the comple- tion of an offshore basis. The core piece of the new offshore port and unique to the German North Sea coast is the 1,665 square metres heavy-load platform. It can carry weights of up to 90 tons per square me- tre. This facilitates loading the wind generators not only in one piece but also in an upright position. In addition, Cuxhaven is not only the place of loading for the gigantic wind energy plants, but also the place of manufacture. The gargantuan hall on the port site belonging to Cuxhaven Steel Construction GmbH (CSC) is the place of birth for the founding structures of the wind wheels — the so-called tripiles. Each of the three-footed yellow leviathans weighs around 500 tons. The Bard subsidiary CSC is the first com- pany world-wide mass-manufacturing offshore foun- dations. In future 100 units are scheduled to be taken to sea in Cuxhaven every year. “The new port now offers the best possible conditions to ship our found- ing structures to the wind parks out in the North Sea quickly and safely,” says former CSC Managing Di- rector Manfred Bruhn and at the same time expands their operating range: “This gives us the capabilities to also supply offshore project areas in the Baltic Sea from Cuxhaven.” Along with the wind energy companies, also car man- ufacturers know how to use the proximity to maritime shipping. The most prominent example is Volkswagen which ship their models from Emden to the US. Re- cently Land Rovers as well as Jaguar luxury cars be- gan making their first contact with the continent in Cuxhaven. Smart Logistics for the hinterland Along with the seaports the inland ports are also inte- gral components of the tightly-meshed logistics web in Niedersachsen. Over 80 inland harbours and trans- shipment points along the inland waterways make up an extensive network of ports and harbours that is very closely integrated in the processes of industry and commerce through accompanying logistics services Photo: JadeWeserPort Niedersachsen’s gate to America, the Far East and the rest of the world: the JadeWeserPort. › ›