In March, the JadeWeser Port box terminal in Port Wilhelmshaven took a major step forward to becoming northern Europe's next mega-port. But a project in rival Cuxhaven on the Elbe, could come on stream first.

By George Lauriat, AJOT

In March 2007 formal planning approval was granted for the JadeWeser Port (JWP) container terminal at the Port of Wilhelmshaven in North Germany. The new terminal will be operated in a joint venture of Eurogate, with a 70% stake and APM Terminals (A.P. Moller/Maersk's terminal company), the remaining 30% share. Construction on the terminal was to have started in the summer but was delayed, although according to sources some initial preparation on the site has begun. If all goes according to plan, Phase 1 of the terminal should be on stream by 2010. The terminal is projected to being able to handle 13,000 teu boxships with an annual throughput of 2.7 million teus. The terminal, one of the largest infrastructure projects in all of Europe, will cost approximately Euro 950 million in total. The two North German states of Bremen and Lower Saxony are each investing Euro 440 million, as are also the shareholders of the project development company responsible for construction.

The projected has since inception some seven years ago, been dogged with political in fighting. Bremen-based Eurogate (that has box terminals in the Port of Hamburg as well as Bremen/Bremerhaven), has advocated the Port of Wilhelmshaven site while the HHLA (Hamburger Hafen und Logistik aktiengeseLLscHaft) has pushed for development of Cuxhaven at the North Sea mouth of the Elbe, downstream from the Port of Hamburg. The Port of Wilhelmshaven site won out, but State and port interest rivalries remain.

Fueling the rivalry is the fact that facilities in both Hamburg and Bremerhaven are both running out of space to expand while box numbers continue to grow. In 2006, Eurogate's Bremerhaven terminals in increased by 18.7% from 3.7 million TEU to 4.4 million. HHLA's terminals in the Port of Hamburg rose 16.1% to 6.1 million TEUs, with half of the total coming from Asia. The latter figure is also part of the City-State rivalry as historically, Hamburg located far up the Elbe, was closer to the East European hinterland and handled Asian cargo while Bremerhaven had a stronger hold over the Trans Atlantic North American trade. The distinction has lessened but is still relevant.

Although it is clear that JadeWeser will be the next mega-port, interest in Cuxhaven, is very much alive. According to press reports, construction of a new berth is already underway, with a further three to follow. The new berth will handle ro/ro and non-containerized general cargoes. The port currently handles around 85,000-90,000 TEUs annually but that number could rise dramatically with Phase 2. The second phase includes a 1 million TEU box terminal and terminal operator Rhenus Cuxport (HHLA 25.1% share in Cuxport and logistics group Rhenus controls 74.9%) believes it will be on stream within a decade.

The rivalry is somewhat downplayed as the group believes that most of the box traffic will come from spillover from other German ports.

One uniting issue among German terminal operators is that dredging is a must. Emanuel Schiffer, chairman of the EUROGATE group management recently wrote, "The result [increased volume of box traffic] clearly shows that our forecasts were correct. The growing size of vessels also means that an increasing volume of containers are being handled at the seaports. With our investments in Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, we have prepared for this growth in good time. It is now time to implement the right measures. The deepening of the River Elbe and also the deepening of the shipping channel in the Outer Weser are urgently necessary.'