Port of Hamburg, the largest seaport in Germany, lies between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is the second biggest container port in Europe and the 11th biggest in the world.
Spread over 7,250ha, it is an important port for cargo transport between Central and Eastern Europe. It can be accessed from the North Sea through the Elbe River.
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The Port of Hamburg is a universal port capable of handling all kinds of goods. It offers a range of services for handling cargo, customs clearance, quality control, storage and packing or distribution. A total of 320 berths are available at the port.
Facilities at the German port
The port features four large container terminals capable of high-performance handling. Three of the terminals are operated by Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA), a port logistics group based in Europe. Capacity of the terminals is being continually expanded to meet the growing demands for cargo handling.
HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai is the Port of Hamburg’s largest cargo handling facility. The terminal features nine berths and an area of 1.4 million square meters.
It is equipped with 27 container gantries, including modern Twin-Forty container cranes which are capable of loading or unloading two 40-foot containers in a single movement.
Maximum depth is 15.3m and quay length is 2,850m. The terminal will be expanded in the future to enable it handle 5.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder began operations in 2002 as a joint venture between HHLA and Hapag-Lloyd. The terminal is spread over an area of one million square meters and has four cargo berths. Maximum depth is 16.7m and length of quay is 1,400m. The terminal features 15 container gantry cranes.
The Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg features six berths and a quay length of 2,080m. Maximum depth is 15.3m and terminal area is 1.2 million square meters. Operated by Eurogate Group, the terminal is equipped with 24 container cranes.
HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort has an area of 600,000m2 and four container berths. Maximum depth is 15.2m and length of quay is 1,230m.
The terminal is equipped with 12 container cranes. It features its own container rail station which has been operational since 2008. The station has 720m of track and three Transtainer cranes capable of handling block trains efficiently.
The Port of Hamburg also features 42 multipurpose terminals capable of handling general cargo and bulk cargo. The general cargo terminals handle cargo such as vehicles, fruits, metals, iron, paper and cardboard. Some of these terminals include Wallmann Terminal, C. Steinweg Süd-West Terminal and Rhenus Midgard – Dradenauhafen. The port handled 2.6mt of general cargo in 2010.
Bulk cargo terminals are also available at the port and are equipped with grabs, suction equipment and conveyors. The port handled 40mt of bulk cargo in 2010.
Companies handling bulk cargo at the port include Vopak Dupeg, Hansaport Hafen, Kalikai, G.T.H. Getreide Terminal Hamburg and Rhenus Midgard.
The port’s cruise terminals include Cruise Terminal HafenCity and Cruise Terminal Altona.
Cruise Terminal HafenCity has two berths. Length of quay is 460m and maximum depth is 12m.
Cruise Terminal Altona opened in June 2011 and features one berth. Terminal area is 1,500m2 and quay length is 360m. Maximum depth is 10.6m.
Operator of the Port of Hamburg
The port is operated by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), a public service institution. HPA is responsible for the development and maintenance of the port. It is also responsible for making timely investments to meet the demand for cargo handling.
Future plans for the second biggest container port in Europe
Capacity of the Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg is to be extended towards Bubenday Ufer. The expansion will enable the terminal to handle six million TEUs per annum. Construction is scheduled to be carried out between 2015 and 2019.
Area of the Container Terminal Tollerort will be expanded and two additional berths will be constructed in future.
A new terminal is also being planned for cruise liners.
