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In January 2012, Germany’s biggest seaport was included in the itinerary for the “Andean” service run by the Maersk shipping company. Colombia’s leading port of Santa Marta is now also included in the restructured South America service. Cargo from South America is predominantly fruit, especially bananas. In Hamburg, the freighter loads containers at the O‘Swaldkai fruit terminal operated by the company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA).

The Cuxport terminal will ship even more vehicles to Great Britain during the next few years: The cooperation arrangement with two shipping companies, United European Car Carriers (UECC) and FLOTA SUARDIAZ, involves up to four weekly departures with an annual volume of 130,000 cars made by the BMW Group for the British market. In addition to Immingham, the scheduled RoRo services handled by Cuxport to the United Kingdom will also head for the southern English port of Southampton in future.

With its width of nearly 80 metres and length of 275 metres, this is the first semisubmersible heavy lift vessel to be built in accordance with DNV’s new class rules for this type of ship. The vessel has no forecastle, which allows it to carry cargo of ”unlimited” length. Its deckhouse is mainly positioned outside its hull, allowing it to carry 70 metre wide cargo.

Buss Capital has released its performance record for the 2010 fiscal year. In 2010 the 19 existing Buss funds paid out 33 million Euros to approximately 25,000 investors. That equals an average payout of approximately 6.7% on their equity contributions.

The Port of Kiel turned round more than six million tons of cargo last year for the first time ever. It posted a turnover figure of 6,293.374 tons exactly at the turn of the year - an increase of 8.5 % over the previous year. The Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) Dr Dirk Claus said “thanks to the shipping companies and the port working hand in hand, we have together achieved a top-notch result, won additional shares in the market and gone into 2012 well-placed for the future”.

Since the middle of the year 2010, Unifeeder has been offering a direct link between Hamburg and the east coast of England. The service includes the ports of Immingham and South Shields and goes right up north to Grangemouth on a weekly basis. The service is a novelty, as was confirmed by Bernd Bertram, General Manager of Unifeeder Germany: “We were able to offer our England service to a broad range of customers, including shippers, transport companies and major shipping lines.

The Authority for Economic Affairs, Transport and Innovation (BWVI) of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) welcome the upgrade of the rail line between Stendal and Uelzen. At the turn of the year, Deutsche Bahn and the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs signed the relevant agreement. The two parties intend to invest a total of around 57 million euros in the rail line. Upgrading the route to a double track line sets an important signal for the Port of Hamburg.

The planning approval authorities of the Waterways and Shipping Directorate North and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg have completed the draft of the plan-ning approval notice for the fairway upgrade to the Lower and Outer Elbe River.

Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, a company of the SCHRAMM group, also continued its successful development in 2011. Thanks to its broad positioning as a universal port group with its mainstays of general cargo, bulk and liquid cargo in the three ports in Brunsbüttel, it was possible to boost the transhipment volume to over 10 million tons for the first time. The transhipment of liquid goods in the NOK ports of Ostermoor and Ölhafen (oil port) increased substantially compared with the previous years.

2011: Hamburg cruise liner port remains on target for growth. 2012: Hamburg Cruise Center expects a record result with over 400,000 passengers and a total of 164 calls by cruise liners.

Cruise liner business in Hamburg – a success story for the City and its Port