GERMANY's only deep-water port, the Wilhelmshaven's Jade-Weser-Port container hub, is primed to become a leading terminal for mega-ships since its rocky start to life in 2012 that saw its berths deserted for the more established ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven.
Even if no one is willing to predict when the port will start making a profit, the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) in Bremen, thinks the Wilhelmshaven will be running at its full annual capacity of 2.7 million TEU in 10 to 15 years' time
Down on the docks, activity stays busy until the evening. And every week now, one of the biggest containerships in the world, including those with a capacity of 18,000 TEU, is scheduled to arrive from China.
The head of the Eurogate container terminal on Germany's North Sea coast, Mikkel Andersen, is confident that ships of 15,000 TEU or more will increasingly call at the port that is the country's largest import terminal for crude oil 100 kilometres from Bremen, particularly, as the nearby ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven are unable to handle such mammoth ships.
Port authorities at Wilhelmshaven are also hoping, with its 18-metre draft, to give the rival European giants of Rotterdam and Antwerp a run for their money, and become the main stopping point in Europe for mega-ships arriving from Asia, reported Agence France-Presse.
In Hamburg, the wind and tide can make it difficult for mega-ships to anchor, leading to delays that prove very expensive for shipping companies.
The EUR1 billion (US$1.14 billion) port of Wilhelmshaven, funded by public money from the regional states of Bremen and Lower Saxony, had been deserted up until now, but its fortunes look set to change overnight.
"We've had a very difficult period," Mr Andersen admits. "Before it was opened, the project was more than 10 years in the planning," a period that coincided with the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent slump in international trade, he explained. As a result of the crisis, volumes were reduced and additional capacity went unused.
The failure of a planned tie-up between three of the world's biggest shipping companies also hurt the port, which had to wait for the world's top container shipping line Maersk and the Italian-Swiss carrier MSC to tie the knot to give birth to the 2M shipping alliance in 2014 before customers started to arrive to fill the pair's goliath ships.
With no work to do, 300 of the terminal's 350 employees were forced to take up part-time positions, as well as forego part of their salary for a year in exchange for a job guarantee.
Now the situation could not be more different, "there's a lot of work" and overtime hours are building up, according to Mr Andersen.
Since February, three long-distance services leave from Wilhelmshaven every week for ports in China, Japan, the Middle East or India, while smaller ships from Scandinavia also frequently dock there.
The port has managed to convince chemicals giant BASF and coffee and consumer goods retailer Tchibo to transit their goods via Wilhelmshaven.
Mr Andersen did not provide any concrete numbers, but said there would be "no comparison" between this year's business and the slim takings of 2013 and 2014, when 70,000 TEU were turned around.
In stark contrast, the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics?(ISL) in Bremen estimates the port handled 200,000 TEU of goods in the first six months of this year.
PORTS
26 August 2015 - 22:57
18-metre draft a game changer for German port of Wilhelmshaven
GERMANY's only deep-water port, the Wilhelmshaven's Jade-Weser-Port container hub, is primed to become a leading terminal for mega-ships since its rocky start to life in 2012 that saw its berths deserted for the more established ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven.
PORTS
26 August 2015 - 22:57
18-metre draft a game changer for German port of Wilhelmshaven
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