Court Freezes OTB Construction

The Administrative Court of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen has decided to suspend the construction of the Offshore Terminal Bremerhaven (OTB), due to legal action taken against the project by the environmental organization BUND.

Thereby, no construction works can be carried out at the OTB until further notice, the court said.

However, this does not apply to two separately established plans, one for terminal access road and hinterland connections. The BUND also filed a complaint against the terminal access road, but is not the subject of a court emergency procedure, while the planning approval decision regarding hinterland connections of the OTB has become final.

The Bremen Chamber of Commerce said it regrets the decision of the Bremen Administrative Court to suspend the construction of the OTB. The Chamber of Commerce stated that it believes the OTB is an important building block for the economic development of Bremerhaven and that it hopes a decision in favor of OTB will be reached in the forthcoming legal proceedings.

In November 2015, bremenports GmbH & Co. KG, a company responsible for the planning of the project, received the approval from the Authority for the Environment, Construction and Transport to build the OTB.

In April of this year, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. and Germany’s Züblin AG won a contract to prepare the site for the construction the terminal.

The commissioning of the the OTB, a 25-hectare transshipment terminal for the offshore wind sector, has been planned for 2019/2020.

Offshore WIND Staff