Page 13 - Port of Hamburg Magazine 02.24

Visit H.D. Cotterell at the Port of Hamburg and you will be immediately greeted by the smell of cacao and spices. The family enterprise managed by the fifth generation of owners has been operating at the Port of Hamburg for more than 130 years and has always specialised in the handling and storage of cacao, spic- es and nuts. “Cacao handling accounts for most of our business,” explains Rainer Fabian, who has been managing director at H.D. Cotterell since October 2023 and has worked at the all-purpose Port of Ham- burg for 30 years.
Mostofthecacaodeliveriesarriveasbulkgoods–in other words, loose in containers by seafaring vessel at the container terminals or at Unikai, where the compa- nymanagesaround20,000squaremetresofhallspace directly at the quay wall. Ships laden with bulk cacao also arrive here, carrying up to 15,000 tonnes of the good. The specialists for port logistics – once known as quarter-men and women – unload the cocoa beans us- ing conveyor belts and wheel loaders, and deposit them in a large hall in heaps up to twelve metres high.
Altogether, H.D. Cotterell uses around 100,000 square metres of storage space at five sites at the Port of Hamburg. “We put the cocoa beans into storage, which are later processed into cocoa butter, mass or powder or directly into chocolate by major processors in Hamburg or throughout the EU,” he continues. In
addition, the company also stocks cocoa products such as cocoa butter and cocoa mass, and supplies the melting facility on the company grounds, which the company owner Thomas Cotterell built years ago and has since sold. The company values having its base at the Port of Hamburg for the short pathways that exist here – from the quay wall to the warehouses and for distribution to the processing industry.
In order to guarantee food safety, H.D. Cotterell is cer- tified according to FSSC 22000, BIO DE-ÖKO-039, BIOSUISSE OR-
GANIC and AEO.
The company also
handles all customs
procedures. To
maintain the quality
of the beans, they
are stored dry and
in well-ventilated
facilities. The port
logistics provider
also checks and
constantly moni-
tors the quality of
the goods. For this reason, the company is currently acquiring new monitoring equipment that continuous- ly and wirelessly monitors humidity as well as the moisture values of the beans.
PORT OF HAMBURG MAGAZINE 2/24 ALL-PURPOSE PORT
PAGE 13
Thomas Cotterell
Owner of H.D. Cotterell
Rainer Fabian
Managing Director at H.D. Cotterell
Strict control: Random samples are taken from each load.
© Nicole de Jong
© Nicole de Jong © Nicole de Jong