Two new expansion projects, one completed and one still to come, will further increase container handling in Germany''s biggest seaport Hamburg.
Just completed by Buss Ports is the restructuring of its Hansa Terminal. The facility can now handle 50% more containers (some 350,000 TEU a year) while offering faster and more efficient shortsea and feeder services.
The terminal restructuring has taken less than six months to complete and has cost ¢3 million. It has covered the entire existing 73,000m2 Hansa Terminal and has extended it into an 185,000m2 site with a 160,000m2 free standing area. Some 35,000 tons of asphalt have been used in the work.
Six kms of ground marking and two kms of driving and pedestrian lane markings have also been laid. Three new 30m high lighting masts, each with 20 spotlights have been installed, an additional gate built and a one way system introduced to help speed up traffic movements.
Finally Buss has brought in a new IT system and eight new Reachstackers and separated handling into breakbulk and container sectors to increase productivity in the container sector.
Elsewhere, Hamburg authorities have approved plans by the port's biggest operator, HHLA, to build a ¢48m fifth container ship berth at its 400,000m2 Tollerort Container Terminal. Construction is due to start this month on the new berth, which HHLA said would increase container handling capacity at Tollerort from some 1m TEU now to 2.2m.
When complete in late 2009 or early 2010, Tollerort, with 1,000m of quay wall already, will get an additional 440m on a mean water depth of 16.7m. The City of Hamburg is bearing ¢23m of the cost and the rest is being raised by the Hamburg Port Authority for the infrastructure, quay wall and dredging work.
