Port Of Bremen/Bremerhaven, Germany

The Port of Bremerhaven lies on both banks of the Geest River as it enters the eastern Weser estuary about 70 kilometers from the North Sea in northern Germany. The Port of Bremerhaven is about 20 nautical miles east of the Port of Wilhelmshaven on the western banks of the estuary and about 276 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. In 2003, over 118 thousand people lived in the Port of Bremerhaven.

The Port of Bremerhaven is the seaport for the city-state of Bremen. While is a new city by European standards, it has long been an important port for trade, and it one of Germany's principal seaports. The Port of Bremerhaven is the fourth biggest container port in Europe and the world's sixteenth largest container port. More cars move through the Port of Bremerhaven than any other European city but Rotterdam.

The Port of Bremen is the capital of the state of Bremen, an enclave in Lower Saxony in northwest Germany. On the banks of the Weser River about 70 kilometers inland from the North Sea, it is one of German’s most important ports and industrial centers. The state of Bremen’s official name is Freie Hansestadt Bremen, acknowledging its historic membership in the Hanseatic League. In 2006, almost 544 thousand people lived in the Port of Bremen, but over two million people lived in the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area.

Bremenports (German) has managed the Bremen/Bremerhaven Port Group on behalf of the City of Bremen since 2002. Bremenports is responsible for operation and maintenance of Port of Bremerhaven infrastructure that includes 33.9 kilometers of quays, 186 kilometers of port rail tracks, 56 bridges, 5 locks, and over 9 kilometers of docks. Bremenports also manages port lands, including customer services, previously managed by the Bremen Port Authority. Finally, Bremenports markets the Port of Bremerhaven under the brand "Bremenports Bremen/Bremerhaven."

Together, the Ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven offer comprehensive cargo-handling and logistics services hard to match elsewhere in Europe. Most of the port facilities serving the City of Bremen are located in the Port of Bremerhaven. The Port of Bremerhaven offers the world's biggest closed turnover area for containers.

In 2008, the Port of Bremerhaven handled a total of 74.5 million tons of cargo, including almost 65 million tons of general cargo and 9.5 million tons of bulk cargo. Of this total, 38.8 million tons were imports, and 35.7 million tons were exports. The Port of Bremerhaven handled almost 54.7 million tons of containerized cargo in more than 5.4 million TEUs. The Port of Bremerhaven also handled almost 2.1 million vehicles in 2008, including over 1.2 million exports and almost 800.8 thousand imports.

The Port of Bremerhaven specializes in handling containers and automobiles. The Port of Bremerhaven has capacity to handle almost 5.5 million TEUs and 55 million tons of containerized cargo per year. The Port of Bremerhaven boasts the fourth-largest container terminal in Europe and a five-kilometer long container quay with 14 berths that can accommodate mega-container vessels. With an operating area of about 90 hectares, the new container terminal 4 has 3.2 thousand meters of quay with capacity to handle over seven million TEUs.

The Port of Bremerhaven has capacity annual for over two million units of automobiles, and it offers storage space for 120 thousand cars, including covered area for 45 thousand cars. The Port of Bremerhaven includes 15 berths dedicated to car carriers.

The Port of Bremerhaven invested over 20 million Euros to convert the 40-year-old Columbus Railway Station into the new modern Columbus Cruise Center Bremerhaven. The new terminal treats arriving passengers to shops, restaurants, and great views of the ships traveling the Outer Weser River. In 2002, only 53 cruise ships carrying about 50 thousand passengers called at the Port of Bremerhaven. In 2008, the Port of Bremerhaven served more than 127 thousand passenger trips and 91 cruise vessels.

The Bremen Ports are among the most important universal harbors of Europe. At both sites in Bremen and Bremerhaven, terminals are concerned with nearly every type of shipment: containers and cars, piece and bulk goods, hazardous goods and project cargo. With the Columbus Cruise Center Bremerhaven offers the port group one of the most modern and efficient passenger terminals for cruise ships. The importance of the maritime economy to the state of Bremen is evident in the nearly 115,000 jobs provided by the industry. In an efficient network of several different logistics services providers, the Bremen ports offer many value-added services in container logistics. A characteristic feature of the twin ports and the key to success is their special job-sharing arrangement.

In the seaport Bremerhaven the dispatched container ships, auto carriers and reefers in fruit handling represent about 80% of the freight revenue for the entire port group. In addition, the wind power industry is growing more important. Thanks to the proximity to deep waterways, outstanding infrastructure and the targeted development of an efficient industry cluster, Bremerhaven has become a European center of this industry.

With the fourth-largest container port in Europe, Bremerhaven is one of the major handling hubs for intermodal traffic in import and export. The transport containers can be connected with maritime traffic via the transport modes of street, rail and inland waterways. With the completion of the CT4 (Container Terminal) in September 2008, the intermodal service offering in Bremerhaven was expanded by one terminal for combined traffic and placed Bremerhaven among the world's leading ports for container traffic. Some of the largest container ships in the world can be accommodated at 14 berths on the nearly five-kilometer-long deepwater quay. Preparations are now being made to deepen the channel in the Weser estuary in order to improve nautical conditions for the continuously growing number of such large ships. The best hinterland connections ensure trouble-free transport to European metropolitan areas.

High quality, integrated logistics, ideal traffic connections and extensive services characterize the car terminal in Bremerhaven. Railway sidings, berths and parking racks can hold 120,000 cars. The terminal's technical center processes hundreds of thousands of cars annually. Today Bremerhaven is one of the world's largest automobile hubs. In peak years more than two million vehicles are loaded and unloaded here. An additional line of business is "high & heavy," which handles large, heavy and oversized vehicles and roll trailers parked in the port. Other examples are train cars, yachts, trucks and buses, farm machinery and construction equipment and cranes. What distinguishes the car terminal at Bremerhaven is its complex spectrum of services which covers organization, management and monitoring of the entire transportation chain plus all related services.

To make sure that Germany and other European countries are supplied with fruits and vegetables from abroad, Bremerhaven operates two special fruit terminals in Kaiserhafen and at Columbuskaje, where more than 250,000 tons of temperature-controlled goods are loaded and unloaded. The handling, temperature-controlled storage and distribution of these sensitive products require special treatment and know-how. Known as Europe's biggest refrigerated warehouse, Bremerhaven is perfectly equipped for the job of receiving modern reefers and refrigerated containers of fruit.