An dreas Bullw ink el , Chairman, Container

And reas Bullwi

nkel

The German port of Wilhelmshaven has an advantage over its competitors for the fact that it is a deep-water container terminal that could handle transhipments from the next generation of giant ships. The unparalleled nautical conditions at the port make fast and safe operational handling possible at all times. The port is also the gateway for a significant amount of Indian trade with Germany.

Andre as Bullwinkel, Chair man, Container Ter minal Wilhelmshave n JadeWeserPort Mar ket ing GmbH &

Co KG , in an exclusive interaction with Upamanyu Borah informs on how the port has set the course for future growth.

India is an important trade destination, and we see significant areas of business opportunity here

Is it perfectly justified to consider JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven as Germany’s next gateway to the world in terms of its strategic location and throughput? Being the third-largest port in Germany, JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven enjoys several advantages. On the nautical side, the port boasts very short channel navi gation times, which offer significant time and cost savings potential for ship ping companies. Talking about the land side, it is possible to establish a company here directly alongside the port at the 160-hectare of the available freight vil lage area. A warehouse, for instance, can be built around 800 metres from the pier, to, therefore, leverage the very short journey times.

Additionally, the port has excellent hinterland connections; the routes in and out of the port are always available. In other ports, they have to be booked a long time in advance. In the case of some unforeseen circumstances, it may take up to several weeks at these ports before a space is available again.

How are you positioned in terms of infrastructure with regard to the fact that the port is capable of handling some of the largest container vessels in the world? Europe’s leading shipping line independent container terminal operator, EUROGATE manages, operates, devel -

ops and maintains the 1.3 million m2 container terminal at JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven.

Additionally, thanks to the world’s biggest cranes, even container ships be yond 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) smoothly function at the termi nal, supported by a team of well-trained highly qualified professionals who en sure reliable and stable operations. The terminal also has a direct link to the A29 motorway, so that truck transports do not have to contend with congested traf fic intersections. Besides, an intermodal railway terminal directly adjacent to the terminal site provides connections to the European rail network. For instance, one of the major industrial centers of Europe, the Rhine-Rhur region can be reached in a short time.

Going forward, the current consoli dation process among the shipping lines and the resulting processes of change in the market provide EUROGATE with the opportunity in Wilhelmshaven to establish itself as a first-class container terminal. EUROGATE is, therefore, building up its future capabilities in a difficult competitive environment. What are the key determinants that contribute in facilitating JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven to efficiently handle the movement of containers and various other terminal-related operations? JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven is characterised by its location directly on the shipping channel. Because of a depth of 18 metres, ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) can call at the port at all times, 24/7, independently of tide levels.

The quay length of 1,725 metres of fers sufficient room to accommodate four ULCV berths equipped with 16 container gantry cranes. These cranes are capable of spanning 25 rows of con tainers on deck, enabling them to handle the newest generation of container ves sels without limitations.

The multimodal railway located di rectly adjacent to the terminal site has six loading sidings, while the 16-track mar shalling yard allows the fast and easy assembling and shunting of the trains.

Also functional and highly ad vanced, the two Out of Gauge Gates with a maximum width of 4 or 8 metres enables all kinds and sizes of project shipments.

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What potential does Wilhelmshaven Freight Village offer to JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven in terms of business, leading to port development? Currently, we are in the process of developing the freight village. At the same time, we are focussing very much on the organisations in the port space— trad ing companies, service providers, thirdparty logistics companies, and forward ers who are doing business out of here, helping the port to grow.

Apart from that, we are also trying to attract cargo booking entities to our port to use existing services and facilities.

JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven is characterised by its location directly on the shipping channel. Because of a depth of 18 metres, ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) can call at the port at all times, 24/7, independently of tide levels.

How efficiently has JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven been able to offer shipping lines an excellent platform to serve the Indian subcontinent as well as seamless transhipment options? We are well-connected to the Indian subcontinent through Maersk Line’s ME1 Service, Safmarine and all their subsidiaries like Hamburg. It’s a weekly service to the ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra with only 28 days transit time.

From the East Coast of India, cargo con nects on AE7 via Colombo to reach Wilhelmshaven.

Altogether, JadeWeserPort Wilhelm shaven presents itself as a transhipment and feeder hub for container traffic to Scandinavia, the Baltic and Russia and the perfect place to tranship wagonload traffic to the European hinterland as it has optimum connections via the motor way and to the European rail network via the intermodal station.

From a global trade perspective, how important is India for JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven? We consider India as an important trade destination and see significant areas of business opportunity as our current clients grow in the region. This is why we are here waving our flag, making the stakeholders and the market aware that there is an alternative available for the country’s well-established ports.

Having said that, Wilhelmshaven certainly has some advantages to offer, for example, fast-moving cargo to and from the hinterland into the port with out any restrictions.

Going forward, we would like to see additional service between India and Germany, which can be made possible if other container shipping associations like THE Alliance that include HapagLloyd, Ocean Express Network (ONE) and Yangming, would consider Wil helmshaven into their portfolio.

What is your vision for JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven in the long-term? We would continue to concentrate on container vessels and strategically look at the prospects of developing the port for the future so as to effectively handle

these ships which are turning super king-size from a giant-size with every passing year.

At present, we do not have any plans to expand the size and capabili ties of the port. One reason is we still have a lot of capacity to accommodate; at present, we are only at 20 per cent of our total capacity. The other reason is uncertainty on how big these ships would continue to grow. Would it be a 26,000 TUEs vessel of 430 metres length and 70 metres width or a 30,000 TUEs vessel of 460 metres length and 100 metres width, nobody knows.

Sometimes, it’s not only about in vesting money but waiting and watching the market as long as possible and then reacting to it. Besides, we are not in a hurry because we still have the potential to grow.

Nevertheless, we have started con ducting a permanent market study in order to be prepared and informed about the right time to start with the concrete plans for an extension of the port.

What about the railway network? Does it need to improve? Well, we don’t have any problems with access to free slots on the trains, which is actually one of our advantages. Cur rently, 23 railway operators are calling our port per week with 3-5 trains oper ating daily to and from the port. Also, we are well-connected to more than 100 destinations within Germany. Now, this is a good beginning.

For the current three main liner services which call our port from Chi na, India and the Middle East, the railway service has been sufficient and adequate to meet transportation re

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quirements. We are not receiving any queries from the shipping parties.

However, the only requirement that we await is the electrification of tracks and for which we had been urg ing state-owned German Railway for a long time. Finally, they have prom ised and are on track to accomplish the same by 2022.

JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven signed a marketing agreement with APSEZ to collaborate in areas that will help promote trade and container shipping business between the two entities.

What kind of collaboration mode are you working with Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones (APSEZ)? Last year in June, JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven signed a marketing agreement with APSEZ to collaborate in areas that will help promote trade and container shipping business between the two entities. Under the agreement, we are continuing to conduct market ing activities such as campaigns and roadshow events in India together with APSEZ. They are also invited to do the same with us in Germany, promoting their portfolio and reaching out to one of the leading European markets for cross-border trade.

We feel really grateful to have such a strong and well-reputed partner here on our side. Will you break the one million TEU mark this year? This year, it would be very difficult. In fact, this year, it is nearly impossible for any port to cross such a record mark.

In the next 3-4 years though, we are confident to be able to achieve such a feat. Recently, we signed a leasehold contract for 20 hectares in the Wilhelm shaven Freight Village with China Logistics, one of China’s largest logistics companies, and this will certainly help us to reach the goal sooner. The con tract will see the construction of the “China Logistics – Wilhelmshaven Hub” offering a total of 60,000 m 2 of hall space plus 110,000 m 2 of open storage area for handling Chinese goods. The project has an overall investment volume of around Euro 100 million. The long-term goal of the Chinese part ner is to raise a turnover of around 100,000 TEUs per annum.

How have the investments been since origination? We had investments amounting to Euro 650 million poured into the develop ment of the overall port infrastructure, and Euro 350 million by terminal op erator EUROGATE in the construction of superstructures including 16 con tainer bridges.

How has JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven contributed to the economic development of the regions it serves? JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven is owned by the Government of Lower Saxony. The port, following its success ful establishment, has acted as a catalyst for economic development by creating jobs for the local population.

Additionally, the government has offered large sums of money as invest ments to the port to improve the economic viability of the region and ensure additional growth in forms of new service markets.

Recently, we had the chance to re evaluate how many jobs have been created so far in the area since the es tablishment of the port, and we were surprised to know that 1100 people are currently employed directly or indi rectly at the port. This is a collective outcome of the efforts of the port and motivation of the government to invest in it.

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