Eurogate introduces its new 'Triple-A' German terminal in Hong Kong

BREMEN's Eurogate recently introduced its new port facility, the Eurogate Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven, at a presentation to the shipping community in Hong Kong.


Boasting its "accessibility", "availability" and "advancement", these "Triple-A" features lead the terminal to excelling other European ports and is even designed to handle the largest 18,000-TEU vessel in future, said Eurogate management board president Emanuel Schiffer.


Scheduled to start operation in August 2012, the Terminal Wilhelmshaven "will be the only deepwater port in Germany" and "the most easterly deepwater port among the European North Range ports, and therefore the nearest to the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Russia", said Mr Schiffer.


"It will be equipped with the world's biggest container gantries for the next generation of ultra-large container vessels with 25 rows on deck", offering "the best productivity, availability and the state-of-the-art facilities in terms of safety and security as well as the protection of the environment".


With a draft of 18 metres, Wilhelmshaven is a "tide-independent" port designed to handle the prevailing mega containerships over 10,000 TEU. It is equipped with the world's biggest container gantries made and delivered by Shangahi's ZPMC, featuring a beam of 78 metres to handle 25 container rows on deck.


Mr Schiffer said Eurogate considers the installation of such big container cranes an investment in the future, because mega vessels with a capacity of 18,000 TEU will be delivered soon after the completion of the terminal.


As German's only deepwater port, it is located directly at the open sea with a passage of only 23 nautical miles, compared to the 32 nautical miles of Bremerhaven and the 78 nautical miles of Hamburg, making it a port of call that should be added for Asia-Europe services in future.


"Wilhelmshaven's geographical position makes it an excellent transshipment hub for cargo going to Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia. Thanks to the Kiel Canal, transit times to Russia will be even shorter when coming from Wilhelmshaven than when coming from the Western ports," said Mr Schiffer.


Next to the terminal, there will be a set-up of sophisticated logistics zone offering versatile logistics services including 3PLs. "Behind this site, an additional 400 hectares of industrial area is available for development in a second phase. There will be a 16-track marshalling yard and a six-track intermodal terminal, which is situated directly at the container terminal site."


The new terminal is also well connected to German rail, providing a "double tracked railway connection with all Eurogate's intermodal transport network".


Eurogate currently runs nine container terminals in Europe. In early 2012, a tenth container terminal, the Ust-Luga Container Terminal, will be open in a site 100 kilometres west of St Petersburg, which will then be the main port link to Wilhelmshaven for the Russian trade.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)