Hamburg Port

[Anthony Small]

Knownas Germany's "Gateway to the World" (Tor zur Welt),[4] it is the country's largest seaport by volume.[5] In terms of TEU throughput, Hamburg is the third-busiest port in Europe (after Rotterdam and Antwerp) and 15th-largest worldwide. In 2014, 9.73 million TEUs (20-foot standard container equivalents) were handled in Hamburg.[6]

The port covers an area of 73.99 square kilometres (28.57 sq mi) (64.80 km2 usable), of which 43.31 km2 (34.12 km2) are land areas. The branching Elbe creates an ideal place for a port complex with warehousing and transshipment facilities. The extensive free port was established when Hamburg joined the German Customs Union. It enabled duty-free storing of imported goods and also importing of materials which were processed, re-packaged, used in manufacturing and then re-exported without incurring customs duties. The free port was abandoned in 2013.[7]

The port is almost as old as the history of Hamburg itself. Founded on 7 May 1189 by Frederick I at a strategic location near the mouth of the Elbe, it has been Central Europe's main port for centuries and enabled Hamburg to develop early into a leading city of trade with a rich and proud bourgeoisie.

During the age of the Hanseatic League from the 13th to 16th century, Hamburg was considered second only to the port and city of Lbeck in terms of its position as a central trading node for sea-borne trade. With discovery of the Americas and the emerging transatlantic trade, Hamburg exceeded all other German ports. During the second half of the 19th century, Hamburg became Central Europe's main hub for transatlantic passenger and freight travel, and from 1871 onward it was Germany's principal port of trade. In her time the Hamburg America Line was the largest shipping company in the world. Since 1888, the HADAG runs a scheduled ferry service across various parts of the port and the Elbe. The Free Port (Freihafen), established on 15 October 1888, enabled traders to ship and store goods without going through customs and further enhanced Hamburg's position in sea trade with neighbouring countries. It was permanently closed on 1 January 2013.[8] The Moldauhafen has a similar arrangement, though related to the Czech Republic exclusively.

The Speicherstadt, one of Hamburg's architectural icons today, is a large wharf area of 350,000 m2 floor area on the northern shore of the river, built in the 1880s as part of the free port and to cope with the growing quantity of goods stored in the port.

Hamburg shipyards lost fleets twice after World War I and World War II. Moreover, during World War II, Hamburg harbour was the hub destination of the Hamburg America Line, that assured the Nazi Party a connection to the United States for the import of oil and steel, and the export of manufactured goods from Germany thanks to container ships. The shipping line Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG) gave the name to the so-called shipping company based in Hamburg which used to run the trades of goods on this route. In 1970, along with Norddeutscher Lloyd, the present-day active company Hapag-Lloyd was founded.

During the partition of Germany between 1945 and 1990, the Port of Hamburg lost much of its hinterland and consequently many of its trading connections. However, since German reunification, the fall of the Iron Curtain and European enlargement, Hamburg has made substantial ground as one of Europe's prime logistics centres and as one of the world's largest and busiest sea ports.

Deepening of the river Elbe for large vessels is controversial for ecological reasons. In part due to cooperation with Lower Saxony and Bremen to build a new container port (JadeWeserPort) in the deep waters of Jadebusen in Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg withdrew from this plan after a change of government in 2001.

The port is administered by the Hamburg Port Authority.[12] The Hamburg Port Authority is described as having adopted an innovative approach.[13] In November 2016 the Hamburg Port Authority ordered a modern fireboat budgeted at 16 million euros.[14]

Hamburg is a major cruise destination and one of Europe's largest ports of call for cruise passengers traveling the Atlantic, or the Norwegian and Baltic Seas. The port is also a major location for shipbuilder and shipyards, designing, building and reconditioning yachts and cruise liners. Hamburg has three passenger terminals for cruise ships: Hamburg Cruise Center HafenCity, the Hamburg Cruise Center Altona and the Hamburg Cruise Center Steinwerder, all three capable of processing the world's largest cruise ships.

The annual celebration of the port's birthday (Hafengeburtstag), during the first weekend of May, is one of Hamburg's biggest public events. National and international visitors come to experience the festivities. Tugboats perform "ballets", old galleons and new cruise ships are open for tours, and fireworks explode at night.

Der Hamburger Sturmflutwarndienst (WADI) gibt Vorhersagen bekannt, wenn ein erwarteterSturmflutscheitel einen Wasserstand von 4,50 m ber Normalhhennull (NHN) bzw. 2,40 m ber mittleremHochwasser (MThw) berschreiten kann.

Die Gefahr einer Sturmflut mit einer Hhe von mehr als 4,50 m ber NHN besteht zurzeit nicht.

From now on, our Tidal Elbe Information Blog offers current news, detailed analyses and background information on the Tidal Elbe and sediment management. Here you will find bundled and comprehensible facts and arguments on topics such as silt and harbors, dredging and movement sites, climate protection and nature, as well as reports, analyses and brochures.

Where can you find berths? Which registration forms do you need? Is a bridge blocked or threatened by floods? Our nautical center also navigates you through our port.

Use our many services for port customers and residents.

We are the switchmen for your freight transport - with the possibilities and services of the Hamburg port railway. Go straight to our guidelines, terms of use, fees or pre-registration for our loading tracks.

Welcome to HPC Hamburg Port Consulting. As a maritime consultancy, we support ports, terminals as well as hinterland transport around the world to optimize and develop their current operations, drive innovation and explore new business areas for a more sustainable future.

Minor misalignments in Terminal Operating Systems (TOS) can cause significant operational disruptions. TOS optimization services are designed to address these issues, ensuring smoother terminal operations.

Our greatest assets are our exceptional people, whose collective knowledge, expertise, and collaborative culture create the foundation for delivering unmatched solutions that redefine success in the port and logistics industry.

HPC brings together a diverse and talented team from 16 different nationalities. The international collaboration fosters a rich exchange of ideas, and perspectives, empowering us to deliver innovative solutions that drive excellence in the port sector.

Clients choose us as their trusted partners for our commitment to excellence, deeply rooted in our understanding of terminal operations. We seamlessly provide a comprehensive scope of consulting services, encompassing commercial and digitalization services, and combine it with a technology-driven approach.

With a passion for details, going the "extra mile," and leveraging the power of data science and business intelligence, our roots in terminal operations enable us to deliver actionable results that drive success.

Chinese firms are in the market for European terminals. Many independent terminal operators see such deals and sales as making sense in order to guarantee cargo flows. Shipping industry consolidation has generated an oligopoly of three shipping alliances with significant sway over the fortunes of European ports. COSCO is a dominant member of the OCEAN alliance, the largest of these three groups.

The trend in shipping is toward greater vertical integration and consolidation. By turning to COSCO, ports like Hamburg are responding to inescapable market pressures. However, these decisions are likely being made with limited consciousness or concern for the wider strategic consequences. COSCO is competing on an uneven playing field with the backing of the Chinese state, and its market dominance is a potential geopolitical tool for Beijing.

This pattern of consolidation may need to be interrupted in order to protect the resilience of European companies. Any measures taken will need to be enacted Europe-wide, as ports will be reluctant to pass up partnership opportunities when they risk seeing the benefits go instead to competing ports in neighboring member states.

Last month it was announced that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition government was revisiting a decision made in October 2022 to give the go-ahead to the deal. The review came when it emerged that the Tollerort container terminal had been classified as critical German infrastructure earlier in 2023 by Germany's national cyber security agency, the BSI.

However, on Wednesday, chief government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said the government was sticking to the October decision, which caps COSCO's stake in the Tollerort terminal at 24.99%. That compromise had been reached following intense opposition to the deal from the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP), coalition partners of Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD).

The Tollerort terminal is owned by the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA. The company says the deal will make Hamburg port a preferred destination for COSCO and help secure jobs. It also said the agreement would strengthen Hamburg's national and international importance as a logistics location.

In recent years, Germany has sought to limit Chinese investment in the country. The COSCO deal inflamed that debate, with several government ministries connected to the Greens and the Free Democrats demanding last October that the company's stake be capped so it could not have outright control.

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