Cuxhaven 19.9.2018
The inauguration of the new berth no. 4 will give terminal operator Cuxport 8.5 hectares more handling area in future. Ships with a draught of up to 14.30 meters can moor here. The completion of berth no. 4 means more transhipment for the high-performance seaport, which leads the North Sea ports in the offshore sector.
"We are delighted that the new berth will further enhance the competitiveness of the seaport and strengthen the profile of Cuxhaven as a port location. Today we are celebrating the result of a great team effort and a productive cooperation with Cuxport," says Holger Banik, Managing Director of Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG and JadeWeserPort Realisierungs GmbH & Co. KG, at the opening ceremony.
Cuxport won the concession for the berth after a European-wide tender; the contract was signed in February 2016. The terminal operator had been working at capacity limit for quite some time. “True to our multipurpose strategy, our terminal areas can be used for the handling of many different types of goods. We’ll be continuing with this approach with berth no. 4, which offers the possibility of handling heavy goods as well as breakbulk or rolling cargo,” explains Cuxport Managing Director Hans-Peter Zint.
The inauguration ceremony marks the end of a two-year construction phase which, with a total investment of 36 million Euros, was completed within time and budget. This investment in infrastructure will enable Niedersachsen Ports and Cuxport to guarantee handling capacities for particularly heavy loads. Four heavy-duty blocks were used at the berth, which can each carry up to 20 tonnes per square meter. “In recent years, the state of Lower Saxony has expanded the port of Cuxhaven into the leading offshore base port on Germany’s North Sea coast. Completion of berth no. 4 in Cuxhaven is a milestone in Lower Saxony’s ports,” said Lower Saxony's Minister of Science and Culture, Björn Thümler, who addressed the opening ceremony.
Since July, the new berth already serves as a storage and transshipment location for so-called monopiles and transition pieces for the Offshore Wind Farm Deutsche Bucht. In addition to regular transshipments, further projects are already planned for the Cuxport terminal.
Cuxhaven's Mayor Dr. Ulrich Getsch, Lower Saxony's Minister of Science and Culture Björn Thümler and Enak Ferlemann, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, were guests at the opening ceremony.
Please find a film about the construction of the berth at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTTQ-aPEIOg&t=20s
Niedersachsen Ports is the port infrastructure company with the largest number of public seaports in Germany. We are responsible for five seaports, seven island supply ports, and three regional ports along the coastal region of Niedersachsen. Some of our core tasks include the development, construction and maintenance of the infrastructure, and in doing so, we are actively designing the future of the ports. We care about the entire region and its economic development:.
Niedersachsen Ports employs a staff of 700.
Cuxport GmbH operates a multi-functional handling terminal at the deep-water port of Cuxhaven. Cuxport not only offers extensive port handling facilities, but also has an ideal geographical location for all kinds of maritime traffic and the best possible links to destinations further inland. The company is a joint venture where Rhenus SE & Co. KG holds 74.9 percent of the shares and HHLA Container Terminals GmbH 25.1 percent. The Rhenus Group is a logistics services provider with global operations and annual turnover of EUR 4.8 billion. Rhenus has business sites at over 610 locations worldwide and employs more than 29,000 people. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is one of the leading harbour logistics companies at the North Sea ports.