Niedersachsen News

Dutch dredging giant Boskalis has secured three dredging contracts worth 45 million euros (around USD 53,1 million) in total for coastal protection and port maintenance activities in Germany.The first contract was awarded by the German Waterways and Shipping Office WSA Weser-Jade-Nordsee. It is for the upgrade of the existing coastal defense on the island of Wangerooge for flood protection to the island’s residents.Boskalis said the project would be executed with a local German partner and involves the reinforcement of the groins and revetment for which 200,000 tons of rock will be used.

While orders for new vessels have continued to decline worldwide in 2017, the situation in the German and European shipbuilding market is different, with an increase of incoming orders. As shipping experts state: “…this is not a trend but a snapshot, but it indicates a high competitiveness of the German shipbuilding industry, particularly on technologically advanced projects.”The global mood barometer of the maritime industry had reached its lowest point in 2016. From the abyss confidence and order have carefully increased…

Just a few weeks after the Operation Commander of the EU Naval Force, Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant, issued another warning about the on-going piracy threat, there have been two more piracy related incidents off the Somali coast. The first incident involved EU Naval Force German frigate, FGS Niedersachsen which prevented 10 suspect pirates from getting far out to sea. The second incident was 460 miles south east of Mogadishu, when a merchant ship had to repel an attack from 5 armed pirates. FGS Niedersachsen first located 2 small vessels – a whaler towing a skiff, close to the Somali coast.

Commodore Peter Lenselink and members of his staff visited German frigate FGS Niedersachsen, which is currently part of the EU's counter piracy task force off the coast of Somalia. During his visit, Commodore Lenselink visited the different departments on board and met members of the ship's staff. The Force Commander was given a briefing on the capabilities of the Bremen Class frigate and the German Boarding Team carried out a helicopter fast-roping demonstration. Speaking during the visit, the Commanding Officer of FGS Niedersachsen, Commander Kurt Leonard said, "Over the years, The Netherlands and Germany have had close relations as neighbors and our navies have worked together on many operational deployments.

While economies across Europe have essentially bumbled, stumbled and fumbled in the wake of the global economic meltdown, Germany has remained comparitively strong. Despite the general migration of shipbuilding to the Far East, we decided to check in on the current status of this proud nation with a strong maritime heritage. German shipbuilders concentrated in 2012 on building cruise ships, megayachts, freight ferries and additional high-value, specialty ships. In total, nine German shipyards across 12 shipbuilding sites supplied 21 sea going ships with a total tonnage of 473,700.

With two state-of-the-art Liebherr Mobile Harbor Cranes, Niedersachsen Ports works the switches for more turnover in their seaports Brake and Emden. Within a short time frame, Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG (NPorts) in Northern Germany ordered two Liebherr Mobile Harbor Cranes (LHM). In Brake, NPorts has already operated a LHM 500 for years, the company said, so it decided to equip the Niedersachsenkai with the popular successor model, type LHM 550. The LHM 550 provides a maximum lifting capacity of 144 tons and an outreach of up to 54 meters. At maximum outreach the capacity is 40.9 tons.

On the morning of 10 June, the EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Niedersachsen detected a suspected Pirate Action Group (PAG) whilst conducting a routine patrol in the Southern Somali Basin. The PAG, which is suspected of carrying out a number of attacks on merchant vessels in the area, consisted of a fishing dhow and 2 attack skiffs. Small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG)s were also seen on board. As the Dhow was considered to be a real threat to shipping in the area, the…