Page 30 - Port of Hamburg Magazine - 03.18

■ HINTERLAND
Miele washing machines sail the high seas
In numerous countries, Miele is the sector’s most eagerly sought brand. As ever, this German family firm manufactures washing machines, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers and a lot more, mainly in its own plants in North Rhine-Westphalia, especially in the east of the state. It was there that technician Carl Miele and merchant Reinhard Zinkann founded the firm in Herzebrock in 1899. It started by making milk centrifuges. Today the group stars all over the world. Its high-grade products are much in demand on all continents. The reliability for which Miele appliances are renowned is also its top logistics priority.
These classy appliances leave the central warehouse in Gütersloh for destinations throughout the world. For exports overseas, Miele uses carriers of all types to reach German seaports. “Up to 6000 containers per year leave the central warehouse in Gütersloh,” says Uwe Echterhoff, Miele’s Head of Despatch & Trans- port. The great bulk of these are sent off at night be- tween 23:00 and 6:00. Miele stuffs and packs the con- tainers in-house.
FREIGHT FORWARDER POOLS CONSIGNMENTS
Miele uses several logistics service providers for world- wide despatch, but coordination is handled by Spedition
Bobe of Bad Salzuflen. “Pooling shipments with one freight forwarder ensures that our nightly despatch runs smoothly,” explains Echterhoff.
The first stop for containers is the multi-modal Port of Minden. Which carrier is used onwards from there de- pends on the sailing dates/times of the overseas vessels at the ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven. The bulk of all consignments are shipped via the Port of Hamburg along a total of 14 overseas trades, especially to Australia and Asia. Containers with three days or more to spare take an inland waterway craft. Rail takes two days, by truck the port can be reached in one day.
“The opportunity to choose between a wide variety of sailings to all sorts of destinations is what we especially ap- preciate about the Port of Hamburg. This gives us flexibility and an ability to plan reliable delivery times,” says Uwe Echterhoff.
85 PERCENT BY RAIL
AND VESSEL
In recent years Miele has increasingly shifted transport to the seaports on to inland waterway craft and rail, which are more environment-friendly. Sus- tainability is one of Miele’s stated cor- porate aims and its logistics also re- flect this.
In awarding contracts for transport, Miele makes CO2 emissions one of its main criteria for selection. In 2017 it aimed to use rail and ship for 80 per- cent of transport volume, and actually exceeded that with 85 percent. Where possible, use of air freight is avoided. With a share of 1.1 percent in 2015/16, here again the target of us- ing less than 1.5 percent was more than met – for details, see Miele’s 2017 Sustainability Report. ■
MIELE’S CENTRAL WAREHOUSE IN GÜTERSLOH DESPATCHES AROUND 6000 CONTAINERS OVERSEAS VIA THE PORT OF HAMBURG.
OF ALL THOSE TRANSPORTED FROM THERE, 85 PERCENT TRAVEL BY RAIL AND/OR SHIP
30 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | September 2018
@Miele