In January, the Port Committee of Bremen’s Parliament resolved to devise a concept for the future development of the ports. The port management company, bremenports GmbH, was entrusted with drawing up the concept and was also responsible for organising the kick-off event.
Representatives of the port business and various professional associations had already prepared statements in which they outlined their expectations of a new port concept. Some of the principal challenges they mentioned were, for instance, investing in infrastructure to strengthen the location, socially responsible automation of the transhipment sector, boosting the role of the ports in Bremen-City, upgrading the terminal railway, deepening the River Weser, establishing a hydrogen industry and closer integration of science and port development.
In the course of the discussion, Bremerhaven’s Mayor Melf Grantz stressed the importance of the ports for the labour market in Bremerhaven and the surrounding region and pointed out that once the pandemic was over, cruise shipping would also play a significant role in that connection. That was why it was important to ensure that the investments in the location that had been announced by Bremen’s Senate were now implemented as quickly as possible.
The political discussion of Bremen’s new port development concept by the Senate and the Port Committee is scheduled for early summer 2022, following the in-depth preparation process which has now begun. The new concept will subsequently be adopted as a guideline for action for the coming years.