Gerald Hirt appointed as new Managing Director of Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center
Gerald Hirt is the new Managing Director of the Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center (HVCC). The Port of Hamburg says the HVCC Advisory Board appointed the former Operations Manager to succeed Heinrich Goller.
“Gerald Hirt is one of the more experienced figures in the port industry and is ideally placed to continue the HVCC’s important tasks as a trusted member of management,” Chairman of the Advisory Board Thomas Lütje said of the decision to shareholders of both Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and EUROGATE Container Terminal Hamburg GmbH (CTH). Mr. Hirt had already made an important contribution to HVVC’s position as a central, neutral, industry-wide coordination point for mega-ship, feeder and inland vessel traffic in the Port of Hamburg in his previous role, Mr. Lütje, Director of Container Sales at HHLA continued. Wolfgang Schiemann, Managing Director of EUROGATE Container Terminals Hamburg, added that “Gerald Hirt fulfils his duties with a high level of expertise and commitment.”
Gerald Hirt commented, “My goal is to further establish HVCC among the liner shipping companies. By continuing to develop our software, we want to digitise the workflows behind our coordination services and tie additional partners to HVCC.” Gerald Hirt is 42 years old. After serving two years in the Marines, he studied seaborne transport and port management at the University of Applied Sciences in Oldenburg, graduating with a degree in industrial engineering. Following a period of training at the shipping company P&O Nedlloyd, he began his career with the HHLA Group at HPC Hamburg Port Consulting in 2003. From 2005, Hirt worked in the Sales department at HHLA Container Terminals GmbH, during which time he also spent two years studying part-time for a degree in executive management at the Copenhagen Business School. Mr. Hirt has been Operations Manager at HVCC since November 2012. In this role he developed the portfolio of services for the Feeder Logistics Center (FLC) and expanded the Nautical Terminal Coordination (NTC).
The HVCC Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center is a joint venture between the two container terminal operators in the Port of Hamburg, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and EUROGATE Container Terminal Hamburg GmbH (CTH).
Terminals and shipping companies can make use of its operational coordination services for the arrival of ships in the Port of Hamburg, routes around the port and departure after handling – whether for container mega-ships, bulkers, cruise ships, feeders or inland vessels. Furthermore, HVCC acts a central communication interface to the Hamburg Vessel Traffic Service Centre and the Elbe pilots.