JWP construction on target amid dispute over opening

Spokeswoman Susanne Thomas told MJ that as of mid-May 41.2m m3 of sand and about 1.1m tons of rock had been laid. All the main pier pilings had been driven along with most of the pier surface and fender supports and sheet piling. Concreting of the pier head was well advanced. ‘Work is on schedule’, Thomas declared.

She also said the only currently reported setback, the collapse of a €2.5m noise barrier running parallel to the JWP’s rail link in the north, had been sorted. She told MJ the barrier, erected to protect local breeding birds, was being completely rebuilt using steel posts and concrete.

The construction of the JWP, costing €480m, is being handled by a consortium grouping Johann Bunte Papenburg, Möbius Hamburg, Hecker Oldenburg and Voss Cuxhaven. The 360 hectare terminal will have a 1,725m long frontage and 16 portal cranes on four boxship berths with 18m of water. It will handle 2.7m TEU a year and be Germany’s answer to main rival Rotterdam.

Local officials said the terminal was of crucial importance to the region. Completion, already delayed several times, must be by November 2011 if not earlier, they said. However, future operators Eurogate and Maersk have postponed the opening until at least February 2012, something they are entitled to do under their contract.

Eurogate chief Emanuel Schiffer also hit back at critics who say there is no need for the JWP. He said from 2011 there would be 140 more giant boxships and that some would not reach Hamburg or Bremerhaven full.

New Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer meanwhile said the first stage of JWP’s crucial double track, electrified rail link between Wilhelmshaven and Oldenburg would be ready by the end of this year. He said it was ‘absolutely necessary’ to link the JWP to the national rail network. By Tom Todd