The Hamburg location can be seen as closing the gap in the logistics chain of the global service provider Deufol. Especially since the service provider specialised in breakbulk, heavy cargo, project cargo, industrial packaging and IT has taken over the Wallmann Terminal at the port. The multi-purpose seaport hub serves as the maritime link for the company’s 90 locations spread across twelve countries. It offers 130,000 square metres of space – 50,000 of which as hall space – as well as four non-railbound mobile cranes that move around the terminal flexibly and can lift up to 400 tonnes of unit weight in tandem.

There is also a 600-metre-long quay with three ship berths, from which the service provider forwards heavy loads around the world by sea. Besides the water link, the terminal includes its own rail connection. Deufol has thus consolidated terminal services and value creation at one location. From heavy crates, assembly and cargo consolidation to packaging and shipping – it all happens at a central location without additional transport within the port. Shipping times have fallen, and there are around 10,000 fewer truck journeys on the port’s roads each year.

Deufol hats
a 600-metre-
long quay
with three
ship berths.

The cargoes handled by Deufol at the port are large, heavy and often valuable: goods from plant and machinery construction required by customers for projects all around the world. “A client from the north of Hamburg built hammer drills for the offshore and wind industry,” explains Dirk Wülfing, Senior Regional Manager Customer Development at Deufol. The components that arrive by land or sea at the Wallmann Terminal are temporarily stored there, fully assembled and then loaded onto seafaring vessels.

Another customer manufactures and packages gas turbines at its factory in Berlin and temporarily stores them with Deufol at Hall 8 in Hamburg until they are needed in the respective power station project. In order to move these goods at the terminal, the service provider uses the help of a specialist Hamburg haulier. “Thanks to their hydraulic equipment, it’s possible to pick up the turbines – often weighing more than 300 tonnes – and move them into the halls,” notes Wülfing.

For a company from the bottling industry, Deufol takes care of all services along the supply chain. This includes the disassembly of plant parts as well as transport, storage, consolidation and optimised packing. “We digitally map the customer’s entire project beforehand to carry out strategic optimisations and ensure maximum utilisation of the transports,” he adds.

Deufol considers itself a specialist in physical and digital infrastructure, promoting the fact that it offers everything as a single service provider. It strives to develop individual and international logistics concepts to avoid waste, shorten process times, reduce transport and packaging costs and to increase the profitability and efficiency of its customers. “With our services, we want to make our customers faster, optimise transport routes between their factories and combine loads to avoid excessive handling,” he stresses. Everything that leaves the customer no long requires space there and helps to increase the customer’s production capacity. “It often makes a lot of sense to have their goods packaged by us – this also helps to free up space at their own factory premises,” Wülfing continues.

Thanks to the Wallmann Terminal, which has belonged to Deufol since 2021, it has been possible to continue increasing the real net output ratio for customers. Unlike container ships, breakbulk ships do not always travel along fixed routes; they are sent wherever the corresponding plant parts are to be collected. “We are currently cooperating in a dam project in Laos, for example. Wherever large and heavy goods are needed around the world, that’s where we go,” he explains. The oversized and heavy loads are transported with the help of roll trailers and moved into the halls.

Digital processing plays a central role here. “We want to make the flow of goods transparent to stop construction sites from grinding to a halt or customers from having to submit new orders,” emphasises Wülfing. Particularly in the case of large construction sites, while goods may actually be delivered, they can sometimes be difficult to find on site because they are not clearly identifiable, marked or labelled. “This unnecessarily costs a lot of time and money.”

Deufol employs around 60 members of staff who exclusively develop digital solutions. The service provider prides itself in being the only company of its size that has its own complete IT infrastructure for digitally mapping supply chains in a transparent, end-to-end manner. This allows customers to track their goods seamlessly, even when sub-suppliers are involved. For instance, they see where something was purchased and in how many parts the goods will arrive. This in turn enables them to manage their construction site accordingly. This is by no means trivial. After all, site managers often have no idea what is being delivered or they receive parts that are not needed for another six months. “Our tool gives them an overview of the situation.”

Deufol does not store all the goods that are shipped at the Port of Hamburg. Since storage space is relatively expensive there, the service provider also uses its domestic locations and has the goods brought to the port just before loading onto the ship. Nonetheless, in some cases, Deufol may store goods in its halls for a prolonged period if customers have no space for replacement parts or if turbine gears for offshore wind farms need to be available for immediate shipping, for example.

The space is not only expensive, but also limited – which Wülfing absolutely sees as a challenge. “We do not have enough space in general and take a critical view when existing space is used for residential development instead of being made available for the port industry to grow,” he laments. In his view, it is incomprehensible why former terminal space is used for other purposes, especially when there are fears that loading could move to other ports.

Another challenge he mentions is the labour and skills shortage, particularly in the commercial sector, which not only impacts Deufol and the Hamburg location. To counter this challenge, the company is training industrial packers and forwarding specialists, for example, at its academy in Dortmund, who will later work at the port. Deufol has developed a corresponding staff programme to ensure they remain employees. “The hardest thing is to find people. We have just experienced this in Hamburg: if ten candidates apply for a job, with a little luck two will get an interview. Some don’t even show up for the work despite having signed an employment agreement,” says Wülfing.

On the other hand, the project logistician believes his company is at an advantage since it offers a niche product and has its own terminal. This is not only important for the company’s value creation, he says, but also a trump card in winning over customers. “We can offer the end-to-end service from a single source, with our own infrastructure and our own personnel,” he underscores. Customers also have insufficient staff and therefore value efficient communication with just one contact partner, short process times and effective packaging, he adds.

For the customers’ large, heavy and bulky products, specially trained Deufol employees develop and produce standardised as well as custom-made packaging – usually made from wood, chipboard and plywood. These are efficient, cost-effective and durable solutions that withstand the forces exerted at sea and the climatic stresses.