European Union competition regulators approved $765 million of public funding toward a new $1.2-billion deepwater container hub in the northern German Port of Wilhelmshaven.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive, said the financing by the federal states of Bremen and Lower Saxony for the infrastructure of the terminal does not violate the bloc’s state aid regulations.
The first 1,000 meters of quay at the JadeWeser terminal on the mouth of the river Jade is expected to be open to ships with drafts of up to 18 meters in the second half of 2011. The terminal will eventually expand to 1,700 meters with an annual capacity of around 3 million TEUs.
The Commission also approved a 40-year concession granted by the federal states to Eurogate and APM Terminals to design, build and operate the common user terminal because it was awarded in a transparent Europe-wide public tender.
Bremen-based Eurogate, Europe’s biggest container terminal operator, owns 70 percent of the joint venture with the remainder held by APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk. Eurogate will invest 350 million euros [$445 million] in the terminal.
The new terminal, which will be able to simultaneously handle four of the new generation of 12,000-14,000-TEU container ships, is expected to take traffic away from neighboring Hamburg and Bremerhaven, which have lower drafts. Hamburg wants the federal government to increase its draft to 14.5 meters to compete with the new rival.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive, said the financing by the federal states of Bremen and Lower Saxony for the infrastructure of the terminal does not violate the bloc’s state aid regulations.
The first 1,000 meters of quay at the JadeWeser terminal on the mouth of the river Jade is expected to be open to ships with drafts of up to 18 meters in the second half of 2011. The terminal will eventually expand to 1,700 meters with an annual capacity of around 3 million TEUs.
The Commission also approved a 40-year concession granted by the federal states to Eurogate and APM Terminals to design, build and operate the common user terminal because it was awarded in a transparent Europe-wide public tender.
Bremen-based Eurogate, Europe’s biggest container terminal operator, owns 70 percent of the joint venture with the remainder held by APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk. Eurogate will invest 350 million euros [$445 million] in the terminal.
The new terminal, which will be able to simultaneously handle four of the new generation of 12,000-14,000-TEU container ships, is expected to take traffic away from neighboring Hamburg and Bremerhaven, which have lower drafts. Hamburg wants the federal government to increase its draft to 14.5 meters to compete with the new rival.