Germany: Port of Kiel Completes Norwegenkai Expansion

Work on extending operational areas at the Port of Kiel’s Norwegenkai Terminal has now been completed.

Construction was officially brought to a close at a ceremony yesterday involving the State of Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Economics, Science and Transport, Jost de Jager, the Mayor of the Federal State Capital of Kiel, Peter Todeskino, and Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co KG. Jost de Jager said “the extension of Norwegenkai means that the potential of the state capital’s port has been increased yet again. Urgently needed new interim stowage space is now immediately available to accommodate rising cargo traffic to and from Norway. The extension also opens up new opportunities to attract further service business”. The Norwegenkai expansion covers an area of 9,250 m², which serves as interim stowage, parking and transport space for trucks and trailers as well as containers. Dirk Claus said “the north eastern expansion meets the demands of our customers for more space and means we can further optimise cargo unit interim stowage operations”

The SEEHAFEN Kiel acquired the industrial site adjacent to the north eastern part of Norwegenkai in 2008 and took it over at the end of 2009. Work began in Spring 2011 on integrating the site into Norwegenkai and involved the demolition of old buildings, site infilling and securing as well as the fencing and illumination of the area according to ISPS regulations. Dirk Claus said “the acquisition and integration of the adjacent property was a unique opportunity to expand the Norwegenkai site in order to secure potential for an extension of cargo volumes to and from Norway”. The north eastern expansion involved an investment of about EUR 1.2 million, which do not include land purchase costs. Jost de Jager said “I’m happy that the state was able to be involved in this project within the framework of its Business Development Programme. We want to continue our successful promotional policies in the future, particularly in the port infrastructure sector”.

The SEEHAFEN KIEL operates Kiel’s commercial port on behalf of the Schleswig-Holstein state capital, of which it is a 100% subsidiary. Kiel boasts three terminals for ferry and cruise ships – all of them in inner-city locations. The ferry ships of Color Line – “Color Fantasy” and “Color Magic” – operate out of the Norwegenkai Terminal and link Kiel daily with the Norwegian capital Oslo. Last year about 1.1 million passengers and 800,000 tons of cargo were handled at Norwegenkai. In addition to passengers and their cars, 35,000 trucks as well as trailers and several thousand import/export vehicles were also loaded or unloaded at the terminal. The facility also boasts a direct rail link for cargo and has a second fully equipped ship berth available with an hydraulic RoRo ramp, suitable for handling cargo ferries of up to 200 m in length. “The extension of operational space at Norwegenkai means that port-side conditions have now been created for the handling of an additional cargo ferry”, said Dirk Claus.

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Dredging Today Staff, March 23, 2012; Image:  port-of-kiel