The 30 million terminal in Lubeck-Siems, located on 320m of quay and 9.5m water depths, boasts two Kunz feeder/rail portal cranes and a rail marshalling yard which is the key to the whole operation, with 4.8km of rail track and 16 individual tracks .

Hamburg moves nearly a million, time-critical transit TEUs a year to and from Baltic destinations. CTL fast and direct rail shuttles will cut the time between Hamburg's Burchardkai, Eurogate and new Altenwerder container terminals and Lubeck by one to two days. About 66,000 TEUs are expected initially, rising to half a million inside a few years and the terminal has been built for a maximum 800,000 TEUs.

The CTL will benefit Hamburg most of all: that's what it has been built for. Lubeck, however, stands to gain much as well.

Hamburg's Olaf Mager told Maritime Journal the CTL would expand Lubeck's hinterland links and be 'decisively significant for the development of attractive, efficient and expandable logistics chains in the Baltic region'.

Lubeck Mayor Bernd Saxe noted the terminal could soon become a flourishing part of the port and offer potential for new markets and traffic. Port spokesman Rolf Klein said the port and the region would benefit from the CTL and also said possible co-operation in terminal operation in future was certainly not being ruled out.

MJ Information No: 16911