Hamburg outlines container expansion program

Hamburg outlines container expansion program    The port of Hamburg is seeking an accelerated capacity expansion program to cope with volume growth that has already outstripped earlier forecasts for 2010.
   The German port has proposed a “Special Port Expansion Program” over the years 2004-2010 costing 150 million euros ($186 million), in addition to the 39 million euros ($49 million) already in the port’s financial plan.
   The plan would add five large containership berths and a feeder berth, and include infrastructure expansion for water, road and rail, together with an area for new logistics businesses.
   The port said that since 1999, after deepening the river Elbe, container handling in Hamburg has increased by more than half. Consequently, the volumes forecast in 1997 for 2010 have already been exceeded, it said.
   The forecast made in 2003 predict continuous, above-average growth of 5.8 to 6.8 percent in volume in Hamburg, the port said.
   The port said that, besides the measures presented in its special plan, designed to raise capacity “in the shortest possible time,” there are other major measures such as Elbe deepening, restructuring the mid Free Port, and Hafenquerspange, which are implemented using separate financing instruments.