People on the move

The German seaports’ container handling market is fairly static, although throughput at Wilhelmshaven is growing quickly from a low base.

The Buss Group, once the second largest stevedoring and terminal operator in Hamburg, and with a stake in many diversified activities all over Germany, is to retrench and cut down its range of services.

Hamburg-based Buss Group is caught up in a row about a compensation payment made to it in 2009 by Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) in connection with the since cancelled plans to develop a new container terminal at Steinwerder Hafen.

The extension of Buss group’s two leases at the Steinwerder area in Hamburg until the end of 2016 mean that the port authority has pushed back its “Central Terminal Steinwerder” plan at least until 2017

The Hamburg-based Buss Group and Imperial Reederei GmbH Duisburg have established a joint venture company to take over the private port facilities of the Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH steelworks in Duisburg-Huckingen. The port facility currently handles around 11 mtpa.

The first ship was dispatched from the new Orange Blue Terminal in Eemshaven in the Netherlands at the beginning of this month, involving more than 160 trucks and heavy-duty vehicles and 24 containers with a total weight of 1,000t bound for Chile.