Big ports
October 31, 2011
As the shipping sector prepares for a new generation of super-sized container vessels, the JadeWeserPort terminal in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, hopes to become one of their key ports of call.
The northern German port, due to open in less than 10 months, will have a depth of 18 meters (60 feet) independent of the tide. That's more than enough to handle the new vessels that carry 18,000 containers and need at least 16.5 meters of water to dock.
The new port reflects a trend in the shipping sector where size clearly matters.
"The key reason for building a new generation of big boats is to save on fuel," said Emanuel Schiffer, chairman of Eurogate, the company that will operate the container terminal at JadeWeserPort.
"Fuel is the biggest cost in shipping, and the big Triple-E class of ships don't require that much more fuel than the smaller ones."
The first 400-meter-long Triple-E vessels are slated for delivery in 2013. Danish shipping giant Maersk Line, which has ordered 10 of the container ships, has listed 23 ports around the globe that are capable of accommodating them. JadeWeserPort and the Dutch port of Rotterdam are two of the best situated in Europe, according to Schiffer.
Size matters
When it opens next August, JadeWeserPort will offer a 1.7-kilometer-long quay that can service four ships simultaneously. The quay covers an area larger than 500 soccer fields.
More than 45 million cubic meters of sand were dredged and transported to the reclaimed land area, according to Axel Kluth, managing director of JadeWeserPort, which owns and operates the terminal. "That's enough to cover the Eifel Tower," he told Deutsche Welle.
The decision to reclaim such a large slice of land, Kluth said, was "not only to get closer to deeper waters but also to create sufficient space for the container operations and commercial businesses."
The terminal, a few kilometers away from Germany's largest naval base, will have a capacity of about 2.7 million standard containers a year. It will be equipped with crane loading bridges capable of extending 65 meters to load and unload the mega-ships with their 23-container-wide decks – two more than today's biggest vessels.
Pressure rises
Competition is certain to intensify in the northern European region. Hamburg, for instance, could feel the pinch. The port, currently Germany's biggest and number three in Europe, is just 14.5 meters deep - too shallow to handle Triple-E class ships. The same goes for Europe's second largest port in Antwerp, Belgium, which has a depth of 15.5 meters.
Rotterdam, however, does have the depth and the ambition needed to maintain its leading position. The Dutch port is currently expanding its operations with a second deepwater terminal, Maasvlakte 2, set to open in 2013.
Schiller said JadeWeserPort will offer shippers an attractive alternative to Rotterdam, especially for those working with customers in Germany and Scandinavia as well as the high-growth Baltic and Russian markets.
"We expect about 60 percent of our business to be unloading containers from the big ships and transferring them to small ships headed to Sweden, Finland and other northern markets," he told Deutsche Welle. "The remaining 40 percent will be inland-bound containers, half to go by rail and the rest by truck."
The new terminal will have direct access to the German autobahn network. An existing rail link is also being expanded into two tracks.
Around 60 percent of the containers arriving at German ports from Asia are sent back with European goods inside. The rest are shipped back empty, according to Schiller. Either way, he wants to see as many containers as possible pass through JadeWeserPort.
Author: John Blau
Editor: Sam Edmonds