HHLA Hamburg and Port of Braunschweig Form Partnership

HHLA Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG and Hafenbetriebsgesellschaft Braunschweig mbH have signed a contract for a strategic partnership at the Braunschweig Town Hall. The goal is to promote environmentally friendly inland shipping in container hinterland transport between Hamburg and the inland port of Lower Saxony.

(Hamburg/Braunschweig) As the largest railway port in Europe, the rail-bound hinterland transport is one of the strengths of the Port of Hamburg. However, this competitive advantage often cannot be utilized over short distances. The distance between Hamburg and Braunschweig, at around 180 kilometers, is too short for rail transport. Inland shipping is an attractive alternative to truck transport on this route. The transit time via the waterway is about 24 hours.

“Hamburg and Braunschweig are excellently connected via the Elbe, the Elbe Side Canal, and the Mittelland Canal,” said HHLA Executive Board member Jens Hansen. Last year, 70,000 standard containers were transported via the waterway between Hamburg and Braunschweig, saving nearly 40,000 truck trips. “To shift more transport volume to the environmentally friendly transport mode of inland shipping, we want to develop new transport concepts for the regional economy together with the Port of Braunschweig,” Hansen said. This will relieve the roads and simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions.

Seven Inland Shipping Departures Between Hamburg and Braunschweig

“Currently, we offer seven inland shipping departures per week between Hamburg and Braunschweig,” reported Jens Hohls, Managing Director of Hafenbetriebsgesellschaft Braunschweig. “These services must operate reliably. Therefore, the strategic partnership with HHLA is of particular importance to us.”

The strategic cooperation is the first of its kind that HHLA has entered into with an inland port. More are to follow, Hansen announces. HHLA is already in talks with other inland ports in the hinterland of the Port of Hamburg.

The Port of Hamburg is not only Germany’s largest seaport but also the second-largest inland port in Germany. Approximately 10,000 inland vessels call at the handling facilities of the Elbe metropolis each year. Since 2012, the annual container volume arriving or departing from the Port of Hamburg by inland vessel has increased by 50 percent to over approximately 140,000 standard containers.

The smooth handling is ensured, among other things, by the Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center (HVCC), a joint venture of HHLA and Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg GmbH. Last year, the HVCC developed a digital platform specifically for inland vessels, through which ship arrivals, round trips in the port, as well as berth allocation and terminal processing are coordinated digitally and centrally.

Photo: © HHLA

www.hhla.de     www.braunschweig-hafen.de