Port of Rostock: Serving the Baltic Sea

The Port of Rostock is Germany’s largest and the deepest port in the Southern part of the Baltic Sea. It was near the Port of Rostock where the first German commercial offshore wind farm, EnBW Baltic 1, was erected in 2010 and it also served as one of the base ports for Kriegers Flak.

Although not directly located on the sea front it is easily accessible through a short canal. With a water depth of 14,5m and absence of locks and tides it is possible for vessels of up to 45m beam and 300m length to enter the port. The port is also conveniently accessible by air and by land via rail and a 4 lane motorway, the latter which will also soon connect directly to the eastern port area. It has got ferry links with Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Finland.

The Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock manages the port for the owners, the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the City of Rostock. It has a long tradition of ship building and steel and plant construction and has also a long experience built up in the onshore wind sector. Over a quarter of the electricity in the region Mecklenburg Vorpommern is currently provided by wind energy. Near the port a transformer station is located in Bentwisch. It is here where the energy generated at sea will feed into the national grid. Turbine developer and manufacturer Nordex has been based here since 1994 providing all sorts of wind turbine components except for the towers. Unfortunately the company froze their plans for building an offshore wind turbine recently.

The entire port area covers an impressive 750hs. There is a total of 11,000m of quays available. In total there are 47 berths of which 4, a total of 1,000m, are specifically dedicated to heavy loads, with lifting capacities up to 1.200t by a mobile harbour crane. There are plans for developing more new quay sides and small new industrial sites in the port and there is also between lO-lOOhs available around the port.

The port houses several companies that are providing services in the entire wind industry supply chain, from the manufacturing of some components to the logistics and handling of components like towers, rotor blades, nacelles, pipes and foundations to projects in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Nordex, is not the only manufacturer of wind energy components in the area. Since 2008 EEW Special Pipe Constructions GmbH use the Port of Rostock to produce steel pipes, with diameters ranging up to 7m, for the wind industry with an annual capacity of 120,000t. The company already has several European projects in its portfolio such as Balticl, BARD Offshore 1, London Array, Belwind and Walney 1 & 2.

Nordic Shipyards not only build technologically sophisticated and innovative special purpose vessels but also concentrates on offshore projects. They are currently building the transformer platform, SylWin Alpha, which will eventually be connecting the wind farms DanTysk and Butendiek to the grid. This follows the BorWin beta and HelWin alpha platforms that the company built, all ordered by Siemens Energy.

Well known in the offshore wind industry for their large offshore cranes, Liebherr, has an office and production facility, covering 500,000m2, based here. Through Liebherr MCCtec Rostock GmbH, they produce large-sized mobile harbour cranes, ship and offshore cranes as well as reach stackers. It was here where it manufactured the innovative crane-around-the-leg for Beluga.

Other companies offer maintenance, repair or supply services such as Otto Wulf GmbH & Co. KG., Baltic-Taucher (Diver Services), Eikboom GmbH and SEAR GmbH. However, the port is not just a base for services and productions but also a hub for research. The University of Rostock and several research centres such as the Frauenhofer AGB and The Institute of Applied Ecology are located in Rostock. The port also has an area dedicated as a test field.

With Baltic 1 completed, the port is currently not actively working on any one particular wind farm . There are wind farms planned in the Baltic Sea but these will be located more to the east and will mainly be served by the other ports, such as the Port of Sassnitz, in the Mecklenburg Vorpommern region. These ports and other companies related to the wind sector are represented in a regional network association, The Wind Energy Network, set up to further develop the region of Rostock and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern into one of the leading regions for wind energy expertise in Germany.

This does not mean though it will silently disappear entirely from the offshore wind map, as many of the companies present will continue to produce and offer their services to wind farms elsewhere in Europe.

Sabine Lankhorst

With thanks to the The Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock and Rostock Business and Technology Development GmbH.