Port of Vienna’s 60th anniversary
Hupac and Terminal Sped top partners. The port of Vienna’s good results encourage it to look to new projects for more space in its 2022 anniversary year.
The port of Vienna has a long history. In 1875 the river Danube in Vienna was regulated, and in 1876 an oil and petrol port was built for the first time. In 1902 the so-called ‘Winter Harbour’ was built. In 1962, the Wiener Hafen-Betriebsgesellschaft was founded, which brings us to the port operator’s 60th anniversary in 2022.
For the two managing directors of the port of Vienna, namely Doris Pulker-Rohrhofer and Fritz Lehr, the development of the three ports of Freudenau, Lobau and Albern has been a great success story to date – “thanks also to the city of Vienna, the owner of the three sections of the port. It is committed to this important centre for logistics and business and has invested a lot of money in this location over the years,” as the executives told the ITJ recently. Last year’s total investment came to approximately EUR 13 million.
“We’re a trimodal logistics hub in Vienna, in an excellent location and with great international links,” Pulker-Rohrhofer emphasised. The port is a key piece of national infrastructure that remained fully operational during the outbreak of Covid-19.
You can see it in the figures for 2021. In the previous year, the port of Vienna group increased its turnover by 40%, to more than EUR 51 million and its operating result by a whopping 46%, to EUR 6.6 million. With the exception of its declining car-handling activities, all of its business areas were successful.
The firm’s real estate business is one of the main pillars of success, with the HQ7 building standing out. It was purchased in 2017, is 90% occupied, and is home to commercial enterprises ranging from coffee roasters to automotive companies.
The gateway’s bulk cargo, warehouse logistics and bulk logistics units, as well as its terminal operator Wiencont, all performed well last year. “Interim storage facilities are in great demand, and we’ve benefited, because we can offer all the appropriate storage options,” Lehr added.
More than 122,000 t of heavy and bulk cargo was handled in Freudenau, significantly more than in the previous year (83,000 t in 2020). At Wiencont, container volumes rose to 488,000 teu last year, an increase of 14% compared to 2020.
A strong last year, and strong partners, such as Hupac
Growth is also related to the Swiss intermodal operator Hupac’s purchase of a minority stake in Wiencont. Hupac has brought in business, using Wiencont as a gateway for its intermodal transports between Western and Southeastern Europe. Wiencont has expanded its intermodal radius of action to include trailer handling.
Forwarders and intermodal operators use Wiencont as an intermodal rail hub. The German operator Helrom runs a train between Düsseldorf and the Wiencont terminal thrice weekly. “We cooperate with a broad variety of rail operators to offer 17 round trips a week for trailer traffic, as well as more than 125 container trains,” Pulker-Rohrhofer said.
Terminal Sped, the port’s own freight forwarder, previously specialised mainly in customs and transport services. It then entered the international bulk logistics business last year, and did well. In 2021 it already handled approximately 10,500 transports.
Lehr has already announced the next big step for the hub’s 60th year. “We need more space and will add 47,000 m2 more land area by filling in part of the port basin in Freudenau.” Work on the area for another Wiencont terminal will begin in 2023.