Brunsbüttel Ports closes 2011 with a record transhipment volume of over 10 million tons for the first time and plans further expansion.

Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, a company of the SCHRAMM group, also continued its successful development in 2011. Thanks to its broad positioning as a universal port group with its mainstays of general cargo, bulk and liquid cargo in the three ports in Brunsbüttel, it was possible to boost the transhipment volume to over 10 million tons for the first time. The transhipment of liquid goods in the NOK ports of Ostermoor and Ölhafen (oil port) increased substantially compared with the previous years. In addi-tion, it was possible to raise and/or stabilise the transhipment volumes in many fields in the universal Elbe port.

The total transhipment volume of all transport carriers of the Brunsbüttel port group, including the Elbe port, the Ölhafen and Ostermoor port, was boosted by 9.4% year-on-year, to roughly 10.3 million tons. Increases were recorded in particular in the field of dry and liquid bulk cargo. The acquisition of new customers accounted for a sub-stantial proportion of this growth. Construction materials for various applications are especially worthy of mention here, along with salt for de-icing of roads and feed-stocks for the chemicals industry, and technical plant and equipment.

“Its orientation as a trimodal transhipment location for ocean-going and inland water-way vessels, both for the regional industry of the largest contiguous industrial area in Schleswig-Holstein and in transit traffic to the hinterland of the port, guarantees the continual positive growth of our port group,” says Frank Schnabel, Managing Director of Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH.

Besides the stable, positive development in terms of transhipment figures in recent years, also during the crisis in 2009, to Frank Schnabel it is particularly the number of new customers and new transactions at the Elbe port that give him an optimistic out-look for the future. “In the past several months, we succeeded in acquiring new busi-ness for our company for the future, such as the transhipment of substitute fuels, re-cycling products and fertilizers, but also general cargo such as large-scale plants and facilities, including assembly work.”

Logistics services for onshore and offshore wind power turbines will remain an im-portant and essential focal point of activities. Wind power turbines are continually transhipped in the Elbe port, as was the case again recently for Enercon. In the me-dium term, Brunsbüttel is to be extended as an offshore base port to enable produc-ing companies in the wind power industry to establish operations near the port as well.

Moreover, Brunsbüttel Ports is positioning itself for the future with additional strategic projects planned: construction on the expansion of the middle Elbe port is most prob-ably scheduled to begin in 2012. “We are now in the tender process for a large sec-tion of this construction measure,” says Frank Schnabel. This infrastructural measure worth double-digit million euros will secure and optimise the efficiency and perfor-mance of the Elbe port for the following decades.

Moreover, the new port administration building to be shared with eg-eb:Wirtschaftsförderung and Sartori & Berger GmbH & Co. KG is planned to be com-pleted by end-2012. This investment is also future-oriented and will not only do jus-tice to today’s energy-related requirements but will also further improve working con-ditions for employees. Since growth is being targeted, adequate additional capacities are planned in terms of office space.

A further building block as part of the strategic development of the Brunsbüttel Ports is the offer to bunker ships with the more environmentally friendly fuel LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). To this end, in 2011 Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH had entered into an agreement with Gasnor AS, Norway, for bunkering vessels with LNG fuel at the Elbe port of Brunsbüttel. Gasnor AS and Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH are assuming a pioneer-ing role in making LNG bunker fuels available in the region of northern Germany. Since November 2011, it has been possible to bunker fuel in vessels directly by means of LNG tank vehicles. Depending on the volume development, the construc-tion and continual expansion of a tank storage facility are planned for the future. Both the interim solution and the establishment of an LNG tank storage facility in Bruns-büttel ensure a safe, reliable and cost-efficient solution for refuelling ocean-going and inland waterway vessels with the environmentally friendly ship fuel LNG.

Various additional inquiries within the scope of regional and nationwide logistics pro-jects, partly in cooperation with logistics partners, provide further potential for devel-opment and growth.

Brunsbüttel Ports is also active beyond the Brunsbüttel region itself: last year the Brunsbüttel Ports/SCHRAMM group was awarded the contract for operation of the supply and waste disposal facilities of the power station Vattenfall Moorburg in Ham-burg; this represents a further milestone in the company’s history. The agreement comprises the supply (discharging of marine vessels at the location of Hamburg-Moorburg) of the power station with approx. 4 million tons of hard coal per annum and the disposal (loading of means of transport) of approx. 650,000 tons of residual materials. Brunsbüttel Ports is already preparing for a takeover of operations in 2012. Additional personnel is being sought to this end.

“Other regional and nationwide locations are currently being studied and developed in order to continue the expansion plans of the group of companies. Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, as the umbrella brand of port activities within the SCHRAMM group, will continue to grow and rely on a long-term and stable successful development in the process. The need to build up additional qualified personnel is a fundamental re-quirement in this regard. Accordingly, investments are being intensively made in vo-cational training and the qualification of existing staff, but also in recruiting new em-ployees,“ explains Frank Schnabel, Managing Director of Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH.

Responsible for content: Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH