Local consortia in run-off for Germany‘s OTB

Bremenports, the port authority entrusted with the overall management of the project, plans to have the OTB in operation by 2015. It will assemble, store and handle an estimated 160 offshore wind turbines a year.

The deadline for EU-wide bidding was extended by two months to June, reportedly because of financing issues, and the winner of the 30 year concession will be announced next year.

One of the remaining two candidates is Bremen’s leading port company BLG Logistik, already involved in offshore logistics. Its spokesman Hartmut Schwerdtfeger told MJ it has formed a consortium with construction giant Hochtief.

The second bidder is another big German logistics gropup, Rhenus, which is also already active at offshore sites in German ports. It told MJ it was taking part in the bidding as part of “a strong working group”. Reports said Rhenus had joined forces with German construction firm Strabag.

A third German consortium, grouping Brake port operator Jan Müller, the construction firm BUNTE, and the Hamburg port logistics firm Buss, reportedly withdrew citing financing risks.

Unlike previous major port construction projects in Bremen, such as the €230m Kaiserschleuse and the final section of the Container Terminal, which cost €500m, the OTB will not be financed by the taxpayer but by private investors.

Bremenports MD Holger Banik described the process as “a quantum leap in the execution of major maritime infrastructure projects”. He said last year there were “sufficient candidatures to ensure that there will be real competition” for the OTB concession. As recently as March five major groups were reported in the running. However, there are now no international investors and German media say that will be a disappointment to Bremen. The lock-free OTB will be built in the Fischereihafen on the Blexer Bogen, a site directly on the Weser and adjacent to the city’s Luneort Airport, which will reportedly close down from about 2014 if construction of the OTB goes ahead.

The 25 hectare terminal will be 500m wide with a quayside of about 500m in length topped by a 70m wide heavy-lift slab. The quay will be on 14.5m of water, which will mean that two or three offshore jack-up installation vessels can berth simultaneously.

Estimates are that medium-term about 5,000 wind turbines will be required offshore in the North Sea and the Baltic. Inside just a few years, a string of wind energy companies have settled in Bremerhaven and there has been a huge increase in demand for port facilities for the pre-assembly and shipping of offshore wind turbine components.

By Tom Todd