Emden plans new deepwater port

The aim is to secure more capability for big ships and head off competition from ports in neighbouring Holland.

Emden spokesman Eduard Dinkela told MJ some rival Dutch ports already had up to 13m water depths. That was a reference to ports like Eemshaven on the western side of the Ems Estuary. The new 460 hectare German site on the eastern side at Rysumer Nacken would be on about 12m of water, a big advantage over 8.3m in the existing port of Emden further inland.

No mature plans for the new German port existed as yet and there was no time frame for completion, Dinkela said, but added that construction preparations were already being made and both Berlin and state support was being targeted. ‘A mid-2011 construction start is envisaged’, he said. According to other reports, four berths for big ships are likely for the new port.

Emden offshore wind energy firm Bard is reported among firms interested in settling on the new site. Dinkela said rapid growth in the offshore sector and in offshore plant production could provide a quality future market for Emden as could rising vehicle and timber products handling.

According to Dinkela port expansion would secure future oriented jobs and help Emden to keep abreast of world trade growth and stay competitive internationally. ‘Demands now being placed on the Port of Emden by big ships with ever increasing draughts need to be met by Ems deepening and new quay facilities with stowage areas’, he concluded.

A 1994 plan to build a port in the Rysumer Nacken was rejected by Lower Saxony, which would have had to find a third of the DM600m cost. In 1989 the multi-million DM Dollarthafen development project in Emden was also shelved after years of dispute over financial and ecological viability. By Tom Todd