Work on extending operational areas at the Port of Kiel’s Norwegenkai Terminal has now been completed. Construction was officially brought to a close at a ceremony involving the State of Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Economics, Science and Transport, Jost de Jager; the Mayor of the Federal State Capital of Kiel, Peter Todeskino; and Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co. KG.
“The extension of Norwegenkai means that the potential of the state capital’s port has been increased yet again,” said Jost de Jager. “Urgently-needed new interim stowage space is now immediately available to accommodate rising cargo traffic to and from Norway. The extension also opens up new opportunities to attract further service business.”
The Norwegenkai expansion covers an area of 9,250 m², which serves as interim stowage, parking and transport space for trucks and trailers, as well as containers. Dirk Claus said that “the north eastern expansion meets the demands of our customers for more space and means that we can further optimize cargo unit interim stowage operations.”
The Seehafen Kiel acquired the industrial site adjacent to the north eastern part of Norwegenkai in 2008 and took it over at the end of 2009. Work began in the Spring of 2011 on integrating the site into Norwegenkai and involved the demolition of old buildings, site infilling and securing, as well as the fencing and illumination of the area according to ISPS regulations.
“The acquisition and integration of the adjacent property was a unique opportunity to expand the Norwegenkai site in order to secure potential for an extension of cargo volumes to and from Norway,” Dirk Claus said. “The northeastern expansion involved an investment of about EUR 1.2 million, which does not include land purchase costs.
The Seehafen Kiel operates Kiel’s commercial port on behalf of the Schleswig-Holstein state capital, of which it is a 100 percent subsidiary. Kiel boasts three terminals for ferry and cruise ships - all of them in inner-city locations. The ferry ships of Color Line – “Color Fantasy” and “Color Magic” - operate out of the Norwegenkai Terminal and link Kiel daily with the Norwegian capital Oslo. Last year, about 1.1 million passengers and 800,000 tons of cargo were handled at Norwegenkai. In addition to passengers and their cars, 35,000 trucks as well as trailers and several thousand import/export vehicles were also loaded or unloaded at the terminal.