Germany: Cuxport Needs Additional Space for Further Growth

The port services provider Cuxport has issued an upbeat assessment of its business operations in 2012. The company handled about 1.6 million tonnes of goods that entered or left the port.

Cuxport particularly enjoyed high growth rates in its automobile logistics operations. But it was also able to expand its business in project logistics for the wind power sector and transhipping trailers. At the same time, the number of people working at the multi-purpose terminal rose to a figure of more than 200. The number of vessels calling at the port increased by a third within just 12 months. Additional space is now required to cope with further growth.

Cuxport increased its handling operations for cars and commercial vehicles by 6.4 percent in comparison with the previous year; the figure in 2012 rose to approx. 240,000. There were several major reasons for this: the expansion of business for existing customers and the ability to win new business for wellknown manufacturers in the automobile sector. The company was able to establish logistics routes for exporting commercial vehicles to Great Britain and Scandinavia. Cuxport was able to increase the intensity of its handling operations and tap into new markets by launching new shipping line services to the British ports of Immingham and Southampton.

“We made large investments particularly in the automobile logistics sector last year – for example, in an automated vehicle washing system for special and standard washing programmes – and we expanded our workshop for underbody sealing for various models of cars,” Cuxport Managing Director, Hans-Peter Zint, explains. An additional railway siding at the terminal means that the company has been able to handle two block trains at the same time since May 2012; and two new double-decker ramps mean that the company can now load and unload trains carrying vehicles simultaneously.

The wind power project sector is now another important source of business for the port logistics company. Among other things, the port loaded 30 monopiles and 180 tower segments last year, transhipped rotor blades for onshore wind parks and provided support services with maritime cable logistics for Offshore Marine Management GmbH; this included handling 280 tonnes of heavy communications cables for linking up the HelWin 1 offshore transformer platform. Cuxport also signed a reservation agreement with the energy giant E.ON to make space available. The Cuxport terminal will serve as the base port for the installation phase of the Amrunbank offshore wind park. And the company was able to win other projects in this sector for 2013.

“Our multi-purpose strategy is bearing fruit. Thanks to expanding our services and intensifying our customer relations both in automobile logistics for original equipment manufacturers and for manufacturers and services providers in the wind energy sector, we are much in demand as a business partner,” says Managing Director, Michael de Reese, commenting on the developments at the port terminal. The private terminal operator also made tangible quality improvements by having its health and safety measures certified in line with OHSAS-18001-Standard (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series).

“By using our multi-purpose terminal to the full, it will only be possible to continue our growth in handling operations if we have additional space available and construct berth 4. By working with the public sector, we will be able to complete this project, which is so important for the region, and create more jobs too,” says Michael de Reese. Cuxport has been able to treble the number of its employees during the past ten years. The workforce at the port logistics provider increased by more than ten percent last year alone in comparison with the figure for the previous year. The costs for the infrastructure work on berth 4 are approx. EUR 32 million. In addition, Cuxport itself will invest EUR 8 million in its superstructure facilities.

The port logistics company suffered a fall in business in handling containers and roller trailers because of the decline in the economy in Great Britain, but growth in the trailer sector partly compensated for this. Transport services to Iceland recovered from the financial crisis and grew by 30 percent; as a result, they reached the levels achieved prior to the financial crisis.

Cuxport GmbH operates a multi-functional handling terminal at the deep water port of Cuxhaven. In addition to extensive RoRo transshipment operations, Cuxport provides an ideal geographical location for all maritime traffic and the best possible links to inland destinations. The company is a joint venture where Rhenus AG & Co. KG has a 74.9 percent holding and HHLA Container Terminals GmbH holds 25.1 percent of the shares. The Rhenus Group is a logistics services provider with global operations and annual turnover of EUR 3.3 billion. Rhenus has over 19,000 employees at more than 350 business locations.

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is one of the leading port logistics groups at the North Sea ports.

[mappress]

Press release, February 03, 2013; Image: cuxport