Page 26 - Port of Hamburg Magazine 03.2019
P. 26

 ■ HAMBURG’S MARKETS
 GRIMALDI and UNIKAI – Behind a successful RoRo partnership
26 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | September 2019
Interview with Dirk Peters, CEO of shipowner GRIMALDI Germany, and Hartmut Wolberg, Managing Director of UNIKAI Lagerei- und Speditionsgesellschaft – Warehousing and Storage
PoHM: Dirk Peters, shipowner Grimaldi Germany holds a 49 percent stake in the Unikai Terminal in the Port of Hamburg, where your ships are han- dled. How important is RoRo business for you? Peters: RoRo services are very important indeed for Grimaldi Group. They are one of the pillars of our freight transport activities. All our vessels are designed to handle these cargoes. Along with PCTCs – Pure Car and Truck Carriers – and ferries, Grimaldi Group’s fleet of over 120 vessels also contains ConRo ships that are suitable for containers plus wheeled cargo. Besides containers – ConRo – and general cargo, we there- fore transport everything that can be rolled, from cars, trucks and agricultural machines to cranes.
Statistics suggest that RoRo business in the Port of Hamburg is declining – for you as well?
Peters: No, but shifts in cargo flows are always occur- ring, for instance when manufacturers of new vehicles transfer their production sites. A few years ago, we still had a lot of RoRo imports from South America, which are now declining. Instead, we have gained Mexico. We also ship used vehicles, and that makes us com- mercially more independent.
How often do Grimaldi vessels call at Unikai Termi- nal and how important is Hamburg for you? Peters: We make more than 200 calls per year – so with a ship on pretty well every working day. Hamburg
© PKP
© HHM / Nicole de Jong

























































































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