Handelsblatt News

A new floating reception terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) off the German Baltic Coast should be operational from the first quarter of 2024, gas pipeline operator Gascade, which is building its onshore connection, said on Wednesday.Located off Mukran on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, the terminal will host two floating storage and reception units (FSRUs) for LNG deliveries into the German mainland and for exports to eastern European neighbours, as the region ends reliance on Russian pipeline gas."All things going well…

Germany, racing to end its reliance on Russian gas, plans to introduce new regulation that will make it possible to expropriate property to link offshore liquid natural gas terminals to the grid, Handeslblatt reported. The new law could make it possible to use parts of Gazprom's defunct Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, to link a terminal to the shore.The newspaper said a draft law due to be agreed by the government on Wednesday would make it possible to expropriate "movable objects" when necessary "to build natural gas pipelines or linked infrastructure".Until earlier this year…

The European Commission warned the German government last spring not to approve an investment by China's Cosco into Hamburg's port, German daily Handelsblatt reported on Friday, citing sources.Shipping giant Cosco last year made a bid to take a 35% stake in one of three terminals in Germany's largest port in the northern city of Hamburg.Germany's ruling coalition is divided over whether to approve the investment, government sources say, even as Beijing urges Berlin not to politicize the bid and the port authority warns this could hurt the economy.According to Handelsblatt…

Hydrogen company Tree Energy Solutions (TES), backed by Belgian investor group AtlasInvest, said on Wednesday it would build an LNG terminal in the German North Sea port town of Wilhelmshaven, business newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday.The terminal is down to receive investments of 25 billion euros by 2045 and scheduled to go into operation in three years, Handelsblatt added, and could bring up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Germany in the first few years."Our Wilhelmshaven project will account for 10% of the total annual primary energy demand of Germany by 2045…

Tanker and barge shipments in and out of Europe's biggest oil hub have been delayed by up to a week as four storage companies scramble to resume operations after cyber attacks, sources familiar with the matter said.Since the end of last week, storage company Oiltanking and oil trading firm Mabanaft, both owned by Germany's Marquard & Bahls, have been hit by hackers. Belgium's SEA-TANK and Dutch fuel storage firm Evos have also been affected.The companies have had to suspend some operations, affecting oil flows in the Netherlands, Belgium and across Germany.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction is 99% complete, the operating company said on Wednesday, after a media report the Russian-led project, which has come under criticism from the United States, is expected to be finished on Aug.

The United States has informed Germany that it plans to impose sanctions on a Russian pipe-laying ship involved in construction of the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, the German Economy Ministry said on Monday."We're taking note of the announcement with regret," an Economy Ministry spokesman in Berlin said.German business daily Handelsblatt had earlier reported the U.S. sanctions would go into effect on Tuesday as part of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).It said the sanctions would be imposed on the Russian pipe-laying ship "Fortuna" and its owner, KVT-RUS.Nord Stream 2, designed to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline, would bypass Ukraine, depriving it of lucrative transit fees.

The United States has told European allies it plans to impose sanctions on a Russian pipe-laying ship, "Fortuna", involved in construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, German business daily Handelsblatt reported on Monday.The U.S. administration told government officials in Berlin and other European capitals on Monday that the sanctions would go into effect on Tuesday as part of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), the newspaper added.It said the sanctions would be imposed on the ship and its owner, KVT-RUS.Nord Stream 2, designed to double capacity of the existing undersea Nord Stream gas pipeline…

Russian pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy stopped on Saturday near the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Saturday.The consortium led by Gazprom building the 1,230 kilometers (km) pipeline said last month that work would resume after it was suspended a year ago when U.S. sanctions targeted companies involved in the construction.The U.S. ambassador to Berlin called on the German government and the European Union to put a temporary halt to construction work on the pipeline to send a signal to Moscow.Washington says the pipeline, which has become a flashpoint in relations between Russia and the West that have sunk to post-Cold War lows…

TUI is planning a share sale to raise up to 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), as the world's largest holiday company looks to ride out the coronavirus-linked travel slump, people close to the matter said.No decisions have been taken and a number of options are still on the table, the people said, adding a possible equity injection by a German government rescue fund was being discussed.Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov, who owns 25% of the London-listed firm, is expected to invest pro-rata in any rights issue, which could be decided in the coming weeks, the sources said.TUI and the German fina

Thyssenkrupp on Monday said it was looking for partners for its steel and warship divisions, singling out just three lines of businesses that will stay within the struggling German industrial icon.Hoping to stop the bleeding of cash and restore investor confidence, the group also pooled businesses worth 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) of sales and employing 20,000, about 13% of total staff, that are either to be sold or shut down."With this reassessment of the portfolio, we have taken some difficult decisions that were long overdue and will now implement them systematically…

Germany's Uniper on Tuesday said it favors a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Wilhelmshaven deep sea port on the North Sea coast, less than a week after peer RWE said it secured access to capacity should a rival project at Brunsbuettel go ahead."Wilhelmshaven in particular can be a suitable location, there are many arguments in favour of it," spokesman Leif Erichsen said in a written statement.He cited the port's ability to offer infrastructure for LNG vessels of all sizes and its proximity to the German long-distance gas pipeline grids and underground storage caverns in the norther

German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp is examining a full or partial exit from its naval vessels business, which is part of the group's Marine Systems unit, a person familiar with the matter said.The news was first reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt, which said the company was in talks with competitors that could result in a complete or partial sale of the activities, adding they would be wound down if no agreement would be reached.The paper said the group was also mulling an exit from its submarine business.Thyssenkrupp said it generally does not comment on market speculation.Thyssenkrupp M

German lender NordLB has abandoned efforts to sell a 1.3 billion euro ($1.5 billion) portfolio of shipping loans to KKR, Handelsblatt reported on Monday, citing a spokesman for NordLB. NordLB had said in April it hoped to complete a deal by the end of June. Neither NordLB nor KKR were immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan)

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Friday to press a consortium led by Luerssen Werft of Bremen for a "fair contract" for five new warships, saying the group's initial bid was too high. "My goal is to get the contract started in this legislative period, but we want a good contact, we want a fair contract and above all a realistic one," von der Leyen told reporters on Friday. Defence industry sources said last week the German government had rejected the initial bid from the consortium before it exceeded the budget target of 1.5 billion euros ($1.59 billion). The Handelsblatt newspaper reported this week that the bid came in at 2.9 billion euros, nearly twice the expected amount.

German banks are still struggling with bad loans from exposure to the shipping industry, reports DW. The banks are struggling to recoup tens of billions of dollars of loans as a global shipping industry slump hits them hard. A report published on Sunday by German public broadcaster ARD has suggested that the northern German states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein may have to offer up to 20 billion euros ($21.4 billion) in credit guarantees to prop up banks with bad investments in container shipping. "Many competitors here have hardly any chance against the new mega-shipping companies in Asia," reporter Heinz-Roger Dohms wrote. That's bad news for the banks that underwrite German shipping companies - and German banks maintain around $100 billion in shipping loans…

Dutch engineering and construction firm Imtech is investigating allegations it operated a cartel to overcharge German energy company RWE for the building of a power plant in the Netherlands. The allegations, detailed in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and German newspaper Handelsblatt on Thursday, follow earlier allegations of accounting fraud at its German and Polish operations. The company put out a statement late on Tuesday in response to questions put to it by the two newspapers in which it mentioned "allegations of possible competition law violations" on "two projects in the energy sector" between 2008 and 2010 without going into further detail.

Siemens and the French government intervened in General Electric's plan to buy the power arm of Alstom on Sunday with an alternative European "champions" tie-up proposal and a pledge to act inFrance's national interest. Though French trains-to-turbines maker Alstom is privately owned, firebrand Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg issued a stark reminder of the influence the government holds over a company that relies heavily on orders from state rail operator SNCF and partly state-owned utility EDF. "GE and Alstom have their calendar, which is that of shareholders, but the French government has its own, which is that of economic sovereignty," Montebourg said in a statement, providing the first official confirmation of GE's offer.