The deepening and fairway widening program on the Elbe River officially launched yesterday (July 23).
"The adjustment of the Elbe fairway will offer much better connections between the Port of Hamburg and the global flow of goods," said Dr. Maximilian Rothkopf, Chief Operations Officer of Hapag-Lloyd AG, during a groundbreaking ceremony held today to mark the official start of dredging operations.
“Once the relevant work has been completed, the world’s largest container ships will be able to reach the City of Hamburg with virtually no limitations,” Rothkopf said. In addition to container liner shipping companies, he continued, this will ultimately also benefit customers worldwide, whose cargo will reach the Port of Hamburg more easily and quickly.
“Our clear commitment to our home port of Hamburg remains unchanged,” Rothkopf added. “Hamburg offers us outstanding infrastructure and excellent hinterland connections – be it through a unique railway network or very good European motorway connections. This is another reason why we recently decided to relocate a large part of our North Atlantic services from Bremerhaven to Hamburg.”
Hapag-Lloyd is the Port of Hamburg’s largest customer when it comes to container handling. In the 2018 financial year, the Company handled roughly 1.9 million TEU in the Port of Hamburg, which corresponds to approximately 22 percent of the port’s total volume.
Together with its alliance partners, Hapag-Lloyd handled around 3.9 million TEU, or some 45 percent of the port’s total volume.