Asia shows great interest in the EUROGATE Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven

On Friday the EUROGATE Asia Roadshow 2011 came to an end in Singapore. This was the last station on the presentation tour. At nine Asian cities altogether, EUROGATE presented its future deepwater container terminal to over 1,100 representatives from shipping lines, haulage companies and logistics providers, as well as opinion leaders and decision-makers from the worlds of business and politics. Interest on the part of the Asian logistics sector in Germany’s only deepwater container terminal was very high, especially since talks revealed that some Asian shipping companies have orders for more mega container ships in the pipeline, thus placing the necessity for a tide-independent deepwater container terminal beyond doubt. Business institutes and associations from Lower Saxony and Wilhelmshaven used the roadshow as a platform to promote Wilhelmshaven and Niedersachsen as a business location. The positive mood was unfortunately overshadowed by the disturbing events in Japan, which the delegation followed with concern.


“The EUROGATE roadshow in Asia was a major step forward in putting Wilhelmshaven on the map and entering into dialogue with decisive target groups. We are more than satisfied with the outcome. However, there is still much to be done. Talks with local shipping companies reinforced us in our conviction that with the Wilhelmshaven project we are on the right track,” says Emanuel Schiffer, Chairman of the EUROGATE Group Management Board. Positive feedback could be heard about the timing of the start of operations. In the course of the next three years, over 150 container ships with transport capacities in excess of 10,000 TEUs will go into service, making August 2012 perfect timing. The short channel navigation of only 23 nautical miles, direct motorway links and proximity to Germany’s export centres in the Rhine/Ruhr region made the arguments even more convincing.


The roadshow took EUROGATE to Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. While EUROGATE conducted individual talks with the top 10 global shipping companies parallel to the roadshow presentations, organisations and associations from Wilhelmshaven and the state of Lower Saxony promoted Wilhelmshaven and Niedersachsen as a business location with business institutes and import/export companies. Among others, the project was presented to the chambers of foreign trade, which will include it in their working groups. The EUROGATE Asia Roadshow was accompanied by the JadeWeserPort Logistics Zone, JadeBay, Niedersachsen Global, Seaports of Niedersachsen as well as the Wilhelmshavener Hafenwirtschafts-Vereinigung (port management association).


The next highlight will be hosting the National Maritime Conference in May of this year on the site of the future EUROGATE Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven. This will give the national economic sector an opportunity to convince itself of the advantages Wilhelmshaven has to offer.
(Source:http://www.transportweekly.com)