Impressive unity on the subject of deepening the fairway of the Lower and Outer Elbe in Hamburg

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The representatives from politics, associations and port management could not have found weightier arguments, and therewith a better date, for the subject of “Urgency of deepening the fairway of the Lower and Outer Elbe”. On the occasion of the first call of the to-date largest container ship handled in the Port of Hamburg, the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB, the Port of Hamburg Marketing Association had invited journalists and representatives from public authorities, industry and associations to a news cruise.

During the cruise, Claudia Roller, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, Axel Gedaschko, Hamburg’s State Minister of Economic and Labour Affairs, Managing Director of the CMA CGM (Germany) GmbH, Reinhard Peschel and his colleague Peter Wolf, Frank Horch, President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Hamburg, Dr. Stefan Behn, HHLA board member for the segment Containers, Norman Zurke, Managing Director of the Association of Hamburg Port Enterprises, Jens Meier, Member of Management of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and the Deputy Harbourmaster, Andreas Brummermann, explained the special challenges which the handling of ships of this size entail on the Elbe River and in the port.

The joint message to customers and partners of the port of Hamburg is that all the parties concerned in the port are already geared to handling the currently biggest ships. However, there is still a call for the pending deepening of the fairway of the Lower and Outer Elbe – connecting the Port of Hamburg with the North Sea – which is urgently required for the arrival and departure of these particularly big ships with draughts of up to 15.50 meters. More and more large container ships call at the Port of Hamburg. In 2010 more than 100 ships with more than 10.000 TEU are expected to call at Germany’s biggest Seaport.

Last week the new flagship from the French shipping company CMA CGM came from Le Havre and, with a holding area capacity of 13,800 TEU as well as 800 connections for reefers and a deadweight capacity of 157,000 tons, it is currently one of the largest container ships worldwide. The container giant measures 365.5 meters in length and reaches a maximum draught of 15.5 meters when used to full capacity.

CMA CGM deploys the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB in the Asia-Europe-Liner service “French-Asia-Line 1” (FAL1). In the FAL1 the following ports of call will be serviced in Asia: Port Kelang, Yantian, Dalian, Xingang, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Port Kelang. Marsaxlokk and Khor Fakkan will be called in easterly direction. In westerly direction, Tangiers is also on the schedule. Then the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB will change to the new – operated jointly with Maersk Line – Far East service FAL5, which will link Hamburg with Port Kelang, Singapore, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas and Port Kelang. The container giant’s first call in the new Far-East service FAL5 in Hamburg will take place in October 2010. Container traffic with Asia reached a total volume of 4.2 million containers (TEU) in 2009 in Hamburg. With 2.3 million TEU, the People’s Republic of China (including Hong Kong) once again occupied the top position amongst the most important trading partners of the Port of Hamburg in container traffic in 2009, followed by Singapore. Other top trading partners in Asia are South Korea, Malaysia and Japan.

In Hamburg, HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB) took care of unloading and loading the more than 5,200 TEU container load; a quantity which would suffice to utilize the capacity of 52 container trains. To be able to handle ships of this magnitude with maximum productivity, HHLA equipped berth 2 at the CTB with five Super-Post-Panamax bridges over the past months. These are tandem bridges, which can move two 40 foot containers or four 20 foot containers from the container ship in one single move. These container bridges are the largest and most efficient of their kind throughout Europe. In total, the CTB now has command of ten Super-Post-Panamax bridges to handle the large container ships.

“The transhipment development in the Port of Hamburg is continuously pointing upwards. In particular the traffic from and to Asia is developing pleasingly. In this respect, the arrival of the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB is also a sign of economic recovery in the Port of Hamburg,” said Jens Meier, Member of the Management of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA). The HPA is continuously investing in expanding the infrastructure. This is becoming clearly obvious in the port of Waltershof. The extensions of berth 2 on the Burchardkai into a modern and high-capacity quay wall, where ships the size of the CHRISTOPHE COLOMB can be handled, have been completed. The work to get the quay wall on the opposite Predöhlkai at Eurogate fit, has also been completed. On top of that, the extension of the quay at the Burchardkai is continuing.

“The arrival of the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB – the largest container ship to have called at the Port of Hamburg Hafen to date – is not only an impressive event, but it is also a mark of the attractiveness of this port location for ocean shipping. But we also note: The container ships are getting bigger. At the moment, the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB can only call at the Port of Hamburg during a certain tide window“, elucidated Hamburg’s State Minister of Economic and Labour Affairs, Axel Gedaschko.

The Managing Director of CMA CGM (Germany) GmbH, Reinhard Peschel, is also devoting his efforts towards the deepening of the Lower and Outer Elbe fairway: “The deepening of the fairway is inevitable, both for us as shipping company and the Port of Hamburg itself. CMA CGM has deliberately decided to come to Hamburg with ships such as the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB, because here we can find a very good hinterland traffic connection to Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia, and can also excellently pool our transhipment cargoes with the Scandinavian and Baltic area with feeder services. We are also very satisfied with the productivity of the Hamburg container terminals and the trusting collaboration. It is important to us that our ships can put up in the Port of Hamburg with as much flexibility as possible. We also continue to emphasise this to the local authorities and we are convinced that one will make the right decisions to expedite the deepening of the Elbe fairway as quickly as possible.”

The Deputy Managing Director of CMA CGM (Germany) GmbH, Peter Wolf, explained: “Our customers also appreciate the Port of Hamburg. That is why the planned investments in the infrastructure should be carried out as quickly as possible. Because reliable and trouble-free handling in the port also contributes to our customer’s satisfaction. We need to get as close as possible to our customers with our ships. Many enterprises in the transport and logistics industry, as well as the trade, are located in the Greater Hamburg area and therefore appreciate short and inexpensive transport routes from and to the port. In addition, it is a fact that the ocean vessel is still and will remain the most environmentally friendly transport means.”

The President of the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg, Frank Horch, pointed out the importance of an efficient port for the whole metropolitan region. This urgently includes the deepening of the Lower Elbe fairway, which is also acceptable from an ecological point of view. “The federal authorities have planned the deepening of the fairway and the environmental compensation measures with the greatest of care and competence, the overall ecological situation in the Lower Elbe region will be better, rather than worse, after the realization. In addition, transport by ocean vessel is the most environmentally friendly form of cargo transport“.

The arrival of container giants such as the CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB requires thorough preparation from the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and the harbour pilots. “We don’t leave anything to chance when such large ships arrive,” explained the Deputy Harbourmaster, Andreas Brummermann. “For this reason we have tested the arrivals on the simulator, together with the harbour pilots. We have worked out all basic parameters which are necessary to allow these ship types to enter the Port of Hamburg safely. We are well prepared for the arrival of these ships.”