Ingo Egloff, Executive Director, Port of Hamburg Marketing: Russia is number two partner of Port of Hamburh

Port of Hamburg is a significant transit point for Russia’s foreign trade cargoes and an end port of call for ocean going vessels. Ingo Egloff, Executive Director at Port of Hamburg Marketing, tells IAA PortNews about the port’s development plans and preparing of bunkering infrastructure for introduction of new restrictions on emissions from vessels in the Baltic Sea.

- Restrictions of sulphur content in ship fuel coming into effect in the Baltic and North Seas from January 1, 2015 set a limit of 0.1%. Does the Port of Hamburg plan the development of infrastructure for bunkering of vessels with liquefied natural gas (LNG)?

- Many shipping companies hoped for postponement of those restrictions but they will come into force from 01.01.2015. As a port, we hope that new limits will not result in redirection of considerable cargo volumes to land transport. We want feeder and multimodal transportation continue their development. 

As for getting ready to introduction of the new restrictions, we have plans on the launch of special barges with LNG. There are many companies ready to provide them. Such barges will make it possible to perform mobile bunkering of vessels which is more efficient as compared with the construction of onshore LNG terminals.

The problem is in insufficiency of LNG bunkering vessels. Sea-going vessels have not yet been transferred to LNG. There are many plans in this sphere but their implementation is not very fast so far.

- What is the share of cargoes going to Russia in total volumes handled by the Port of Hamburg? Do you expect any impact of the geopolitical situation and sanctions against Russia on cargo traffic to Russia via the Port of Hamburg?

- In 2013, transshipment of containers destined for Russia totaled 713,000 TEUs in the Port of Hamburg. It is the second result in terms of volumes after China and it makes some 8% of the port’s total container throughput.

So Russia is number two partner of the Port of Hamburg and we hope that there will be no more sanctions against Russia and the controversies between Russia and EU will be overcome on a political level. It is important for the parties to be ready for a dialogue. Western Europe should regard the acts of Russia with more understanding, taking into consideration its interests and safety. We hope that economic and trade relations between the countries will stay more important than political differences as we used to see invent during the “cold war” period.

- What are the port’s development plans?

- There are four container terminals at the port with good approaches to them. By 2020, we will be able to handle up to 18 TEUs.

Port of Hamburg is the most important railway port of Europe. We want to preserve this status and strengthen it. So the city government has made large investments in the railway infrastructure of the city and the port, this investment programme is to be continued.

Besides, there are plans for investments into the railway line towards the eastern Germany and Southern Germany which will also have a favorable impact on the port activities.

I cannot but mention also Smart Port project aimed at improving of coordination and information exchange between all the involved parties in the port. Coordination between railway/automobile transport and the terminals is of primary importance, and our work is focused on this.

- Are you going to develop shipping along Elbe?

- We are very interested in deepening and expansion of Elbe fairway and we hope to obtain a permit for such works from the Federal Administrative Court in summer 2014. 

In 2013, we handled almost 900 vessels with length exceeding 330 arriving by Elbe, that is we accepted 3 large vessels per day. Pilots responsible for navigation along Elbe have been provided with new navigation systems allowing more maneuverability both at the river and in the port water area. 

- What is the capacity of the largest container carriers the port is able to accept?

- As of today, we can handled vessels with the draught of up to 13.5 m regardless of the tide, or up to 15 m at full tide. We have accepted container carrier Alexander Von Humboldt (CMA CGM) with the capacity of over 16,000 TEUs and simulated handling of a 18,000-TEU Maersk vessel.

Port of Haburg is the last port of call for large container carriers, they turn back here. It means that they will never call at the port being fully loaded. When calling at the port their maximum load is 13,000 TEUs. It is an additional advantage for us.

One third of all container cargoes comes from the Metropolia region and stays in the region, one third is transitted by feeder lines.

- What other cargoes are handled in Hamburg apart from containers?

- We handle much ore and steel (Germany’s largest steel terminal is located in Hamburg), copper, grain, general cargoes, oil products, biofuel (produced in the port). From Russia we mostly import paper and coal.

There are a lot of plans on the development of the port’s inner harbours but no final decisions have been made in this respect. 

- Considering the experience of your port, how reasonable is the location of processing enterprises within the port?

- It is worth it. There are different industrial enterprises in our port, it is very reasonable for import of raw materials and export of end products. Besides, there are a number of logistics centers in the port. The specialize in different cargoes, paper for instance.

- Are there any tax preferences in the Port of Hamburg?

- Special economic zone in the port of Hamburg existed in 1881-2013 (free port) with no customs clearance of cargoes. Today, cargoes are cleared directly at the container terminal and firms can arrange open customs warehouses. We strive to make the clearance procedure as fast as possible, we have a direct contact with Hamburg customs allowing us to be prompt in handling all the issues. 

Interviewed by Vitaly Chernov