North Rhine News

An EU-funded project is helping accelerate the adoption of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies that transform carbon dioxide emissions into valuable resources such as fuels, chemicals, and construction materials.CCU is based on the principle of capturing carbon dioxide and reusing it in various forms, such as e-fuels created by combining captured CO2 with renewable hydrogen.The ECO2Fuel project is pioneering this approach by developing a 1MW low-temperature electrolyzer…

Rhine river traffic came to a standstill in some places on Wednesday due to strikes against French government plans to raise the pension age, with sections of the river in France, Germany and Switzerland affected, a CGT union representative and Germany's Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSA) said.Around 1.28 million people in France had participated in a sixth day of protests on Tuesday against a draft law that would see the pension age delayed by two years to 64.A blockade at Strasbourg lock on the Rhine was cleared by police and an evacuation of the blockades at the Marckolsheim lock…

Following a successful initial loading operation and maiden voyage on the river Rhine, Covestro and HGK Shipping GmbH officially put into service the new low-water vessel called 'Courage' at the beginning of March. Designed 'future-fuel-ready', It is designed to supply the material manufacturer’s customers with finished products from the company’s business sites in North Rhine-Westphalia. Sister vessel 'Curiosity' will be delivered in a few weeks.The two low-water vessels sport a particularly efficient diesel-electric drive system…

Chief Financial Officer Guido Kerkhoff was named interim CEO of Thyssenkrupp on Friday and won the backing of the German industrial group's biggest shareholder, as the search began for a permanent replacement for Heinrich Hiesinger.Hiesinger quit last week after failing to win unanimous shareholder backing for a deal to create a steel venture with India's Tata Steel.Kerkhoff, 50, will run the company until the process of finding a Hiesinger's replacement is completed, Thyssenkrupp Chairman Ulrich Lehner said…

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority will be working together to further optimise logistics connections between Europe’s largest port and the German hinterland. During his working visit to Rotterdam today, NRW Traffic Minister Hendrik Wüst officially launched the two parties’ talks regarding a port agreement. Prime Minister Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia had already gained a good impression of the port of Rotterdam and its relationship with the German federated state in September 2017 – on what was actually his first official foreign visit. Today it was Traffic Minister Hendrik Wüst’s turn to visit Rotterdam, to experience the size, scale and importance of solid collaboration between the sea port and NRW first-hand.

Rolls-Royce Power Systems has honoured its five best suppliers for outstanding performance in quality, logistics, environmental protection and cooperation in 2015. For the tenth year in a row, Rolls-Royce Power Systems has commended the top suppliers of its subsidiaries MTU, L’Orange and MTU Onsite Energy, choosing from a total of 495 candidates from around the globe. CFO Marcus A. Wassenberg stated “Our suppliers make a valuable contribution to product quality, substantially bolstering the competitive position of our engines and gensets, and consequently that of the entire company. For the third time, Harz Guss Zorge from Lower Saxony, Germany claimed the title of best supplier of unmachined parts. The company produces cylinder heads, exhaust elbows and engine mounts.

Following the go-ahead from antitrust authorities, on December 1, 2015 ZF has officially taken over the industrial gears and wind turbine gearbox business from Bosch Rexroth AG. With this, some 1,200 employees altogether at the Witten, Beijing and Lake Zurich (USA) locations will thus join the technology company. The purchase price has not been disclosed. For ZF, the acquisition is an entry into the business with large industrial gears that are used in oil rigs, mine vehicles, tunnel drilling machines, or cableways, for instance.

The Port of Antwerp and duisport are intensifying their cooperation as the Port of Antwerp will participate in the existing rail shuttle service connecting the two ports. The direct rail connection from Duisburg to Antwerp was set up by the duisport Group in 2006 under difficult competitive conditions with regard to road and inland waterway transport. The decision by the Port of Antwerp to participate in the rail link underlines the commitment of both ports to further develop this important European logistic corridor. Since the beginning of this year duisport agency GmbH (dpa), a subsidiary of Duisburger Hafen AG, has offered a direct daily departure by rail to Duisburg from a deepsea quay (Q1700) in the Port of Antwerp.

German police arrested three men on Wednesday suspected of belonging to an organised criminal group that smuggles people from Africa to the European Union. Around 7,000 migrants, most from Africa, were rescued from boats in the Mediterranean last weekend and around 900 drowned last month on a boat heading to Italy - all victims of people-smuggling operations. Other migrants endure dangers of another kind, smuggled over land routes via the Balkans. Cologne police said they searched properties in the states of North-Rhine Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein in the early hours of Wednesday morning and detained one 22-year-old man and two other males aged 26.

Hurricane-force winds lashed parts of northern Europe on Tuesday, including Germany and the Netherlands, causing flights to be cancelled, snarling some train services and hitting port traffic. The Dutch meteorological office issued a code red warning for the low-lying country's northern and coastal provinces, as gusts of up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) an hour battered the Netherlands. A spokesman for Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Europe's fourth largest, said 80 flights had been cancelled because the wind had reduced runway capacity. It warned that delays would mount as flight volumes rose later in the day. At Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, two container terminals were closed, with ships forced to queue out at sea.

With the opening of a representative office in North-Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the second most important region of the German market for Hamburg, the Port of Hamburg’s internationally active marketing organization is making a point. From July 18, Port of Hamburg Marketing’s Representative Office (West) will be located in Dortmunder Hafen AG’s head office. This on-the-spot presence will enable Port of Hamburg Marketing to cover the NRW region even more promptly and intensively. Heading the new representative office will be Volker Hahn, who has until now looked after the region from Hamburg. At the opening of the new representative office…