River Elbe News

German utility RWE on Jan. 1 handed over floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure at Brunsbuettel on the North Sea to state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) as agreed when first imports arrived 10 months ago, it said.DET is now the sole operational manager and markets the capacity of the Brunsbuettel Elbehafen LNG project.Germany's quest to increase LNG capacity for regasification on its shores has intensified as it seeks to end reliance on Russian pipeline gas…

Sanmar’s Altinova Shipyard held a christening ceremony last Saturday for a powerful new harbour tug destined to work for German operator H. Schramm Towage.Lara König, took on the honorary role of godmother to the new tug, which is named Bo after her two-year-old son, who is the godchild of SCHRAMM group owner Hans-Helmut Schramm.Bo is based on the exclusive-to-Sanmar TRAktor-Z 2500SX design from Canadian naval architects Robert Allan, part of the Turkish tug and workboat builder’s Deliçay series.Powered by two high-speed…

A 112-year-old tall ship has toppled over during a drydock maintenance period in South Africa.The Netherlands-registered Europa fell over during an attempt to transfer the steel-hulled barque back into the water from drydock at a Cape Town ship repair facility, leaving one crewmember with minor injuries."The injured sailor is receiving the necessary medical care and is doing well, given the circumstances," the ship's operator Bark Europa said. "He is currently in stable condition…

A German government-backed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project at Mukran on Ruegen island in the Baltic Sea, near existing LNG reception facilities delivering into the mainland port of Lubmin, will be downsized.The quest for alternative imports intensified as the country sought to end reliance on Russian pipeline gas after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.Apart from gas, industry and the government are anticipating increased use of hydrogen, which when produced using renewable energy can help the transition to a lower carbon economy.Germany would need to import much of its hydrogen needs and the low density of the gas makes transportation over long distances complicated unless a carrier…

Germany's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project at Stade said it would in the coming weeks begin testing market appetite for ammonia as a way to transport hydrogen, as the country's efforts to end reliance on Russian pipeline gas gather pace.The quest for alternatives has included focusing on hydrogen, which when produced using renewable energy can help the transition to a lower carbon economy.Germany, however, would need to import much of its hydrogen needs and the low density of the gas makes transportation over long distances complicated unless a carrier…

Germany's largest port, the Port of Hamburg not expecting reduction in container throughput caused by liner service changes announced by Ocean Alliance and Maersk.From April, the Ocean Alliance NEU 5 service handled by EUROGATE Container Terminal Hamburg – CTH is being transferred to Antwerp, said a press release from the a sea port on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, 110 kilometres from its mouth on the North Sea."This service will be run by the Ocean Alliance Partner, CMA CGM as FAL 3 with an approximate annual volume of 150,000 TEU," it said.Going forward, according to CMA CGM, the entire container volume carried until now to and from Hamburg by this service will be handled by the five Ocean Alliance liner services continuing to call in Hamburg.

Port of Hamburg, Germany’s biggest universal port, said that in the first three months of 2019, at 2.57 million tons, the total quantity of cargo carried by inland waterway craft between the Port of Hamburg and its hinterland achieved double-digit growth of 12.1 percent.One limiting influence on the further development of quantities by inland vessel this year has been the barely navigable River Elbe caused by low water since May.From Stefan Kunze’s point of view; he is head of the Port of Hamburg Representative Office in Dresden, against this backdrop it is difficult to forecast the ongoing development of cargo quantities carried by inland vessels on the Elbe this year.Already last year…

DEME, an international group of specialized companies involved in complex marine engineering works, has won a major contract to carry out the deepening of the Elbe fairway in Germany.The Belgian dredging, environmental and marine engineering group said that its German subsidiary Nordsee Nassbagger- und Tiefbau GmbH, based in Bremen, has acquired the maintenance dredging contract on the River Elbe in Germany.The contract has been awarded to a joint venture, including DEME’s German subsidiary, for a period of two years. DEME will maintain the whole 116 km long fairway of the Elbe between the North Sea and Hamburg.The TSHD ‘Marieke’ will…

The Port of Hamburg will soon be able to welcome 20,000+ TEU containerships as the plan to dredge the river Elbe has finally received the approval from German authorities.A third supplementary planning procedure requested by the Federal Administrative Court has been conducted by the planning agencies responsible for the major project. The legal preliminaries are therefore in place that will enable construction to start.“This is very good news for our trading and shipping customers worldwide and for the whole Hamburg Metropolitan Region,” said Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.“We have waited a long time for today and are now hoping for rapid implementation,” added Ingo Egloff, his Executive Board colleague.

Becker Marine Systems says it is continuing its successful entry into Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, despite an ongoing crisis in the shipbuilding industry. Now the Hamburg-based company is opening a branch office in Kobe, Japan, and has formed a manufacturing partnership with Murakami Iron Works for producing containership rudders. Becker Marine Systems has had a presence in the Asian maritime industry for decades. Recently the company delivered the largest flap rudder in the world.

Plans to dredge the river Elbe in Hamburg must be improved before a stop order on the work is lifted, a German court ruled on Thursday, raising the risk of more delay to work to deepen Germany's biggest port and open it up to new container ships. Green pressure groups had lodged a legal complaint against the original plan, arguing the environmental impact of dumping mud and sand on fragile coastal wetlands would be devastating. Following the ruling from Germany's top administrative court that authorities must do more to protect the river's maritime environment, shares in Hamburg port terminal operator HHLA were down 11.5 percent at 1215 GMT. The Hamburg city government said it was pleased the court had in principle accepted that dredging can take place.

Austal Limited has secured the company’s sixth new commercial vessel order for 2016, with the award of a €15.47 million (circa A$22 million) contract for a high-speed passenger ferry from Förde Reederei Seetouristik (FRS Group) of Germany. The 56 metre catamaran is a new design from Austal’s Australian based design team, adding to their successful portfolio of designs that has seen more than 22 similar-sized vessels constructed for commercial ferry operators around the world since 2002. Announcing the contract, Austal Chief Executive Officer David Singleton highlighted Austal’s successful strategy to pursue export opportunities that are strengthening Australia’s shipbuilding capability.

Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has taken delivery of the Sauger III, a custom floating pump station by Damen Shipyards Group for supporting dredging operations. Situated 110 km inland on the River Elbe and with a tidal range of 3.6 meters, the Hamburg Port requires regularly dredging like most ports. 37 metres in length and 10 meters wide, the station features a powerful, dual pump installation and comfortable accommodation for the crew. The Sauger III was built to a completely new design following a European tender process that began with ten yards and was finally won by Damen.

In 1966 North German Lloyd (NDL) carried out Germany’s first multimodal door-to-door shipment. The customer was delighted as cargo could no longer ‘get lost’ on the way. An interesting, almost forgotten story from the beginning of the container era. The announcement by the American shipping company Sealand at the beginning of 1966 that they would establish a container service between the East Coast of the U.S.A. and Europe caused action at Hapag and NDL. A few short weeks later a member of the Hapag executive board…

On Tuesday, February 9 at around 3am, local time, the containership CSCL Indian Ocean has been able continue her voyage to the Port of Hamburg. the ship with the help of tugs back into the navigation channel, without any one being injured or damage to the environment. A total of 12 tugs were involved in the operation. First the ship was made lighter by pumping off fuel and ballast. Dredgers and water jets prepared the ground around the ship for refloating. The tide, higher than normal, provided additional help for the operation. "Once again we have seen that in this special situation on the Elbe, all emergency services worked very professionally and effectively together…

The last five days stuck in Elbschlick 400-meter (1,312 feet) CSCL Indian Ocean, the 19,000 teu vessel aground on the river Elbe, owned by China Shipping Group Co.,  is available again. After several failed attempts to budge the containership salvage teams were preparing to refloat the vessel during a spring tide on Tuesday. The attempt to tow the vessel was scheduled for 2 a.m. Tuesday morning when high water is expected to be 1.2 meters above the average high tide due to a spring tide. As planned, the towing test began around 2:00 PM. The south wind over the North Sea and the spring tide of the new moon the flood was just over 1.20 meters higher than normal. The portion of the same was closed for the duration of the maneuver.

A Chinese container ship that is one of the world's largest has run aground on the river Elbe near Germany's largest port Hamburg but shipping to the harbour continues as normal, German marine police said on Thursday. It ran aground after suffering a rudder breakdown while approaching Hamburg on Wednesday night, port pilots said. An attempt with tugs to refloat the 399.6-metre-long ship at high tide at midday on Thursday failed, and another attempt will be made during high tide on Thursday night, a marine police spokeswoman said. She said ships heading to and from Hamburg were able to sail past the stationary CSCL Indian Ocean normally but some larger ones might have to slow down.

The number of ultra large vessels calling at the Port of Hamburg has been on the increase for years. This is resulting in some major challenges for the port operators, shipping companies and authorities. With the introduction of the Nautical Terminal Coordination (NTK), there is now a body to handle the centralised operational coordination of mega-ship calls for the first time – long before a vessel proceeds up the estuary of the river Elbe. It draws on the experience and the structures of the Feeder Logistics Center (FLZ). Since 2008, the number of ultra large vessels calling at the Port of Hamburg has increased from 621 to 989. This includes not only container ships…

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig today adjourned the proceedings by the BUND and NABU environmental associations against the plan approval concerning the dredging of the lower and outer stretches of the river Elbe until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg has reached a decision regarding a pending referral of the interpretive ruling on the Water Framework Directive. The 7th division of the Federal Administrative Court, which is responsible for waterways law…

Construction of the third cruise terminal in Hamburg commenced July 4 with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony. And in less than a month, the biggest cruise ceremony will take place on the river Elbe, the fourth edition of the Hamburg Cruise Days, taking place August 1-3. The month of August will see in total 43 cruise calls. Surface construction work on the site of Hamburg’s third cruise terminal at the Kronprinzkai quay in Steinwerder officially commenced last Friday, July 4, with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony.

Over the last weekend (May 9-11, 2014), 12 cruise ships visited the Port of Hamburg and were counted in total with 27 sail-by passages in front of the Landungsbrücken pontoons. Overall, 37,000 cruise passengers were handled during the three days of celebration. The cruise ships prominently showed themselves to the nearly one million visitors of the Port Anniversary, who were able to experience the ocean giants up close. The first day of the anniversary started with in total five cruise calls: “AIDAluna”…

PRISE, the Port River Information System Elbe, will soon be officially launched following a one-year trial. The new IT platform will bring together all information on ship arrivals and departures from all of the parties involved in the handling process: the terminals, pilots, shipping companies/brokers, tugs and mooring people as well as the Harbor Master Authority. At the Port of Hamburg and on the Elbe, an increasing number of ever-larger ships require handling within narrow time frames. A more rapid flow of information between all of the involved parties is essential in order to cope with the growing level of complexity for planning and execution.

When Gustaf de Laval read in 1877 an article in the German periodical ”Milchzeitung” (Milk News Paper) about centrifugal separators, he certainly did not expect that it would lead to his founding of a global acting company with around 16,400 employees nearly 140 years later. His first continuous separator, with a capacity of 130 liters per hour, was demonstrated 1879 in Stockholm; and four years later, in 1883, he and his partner, Oscar Lamm, established the company AB Separator.