Congestion issues continue to plague Hamburg’s flagship automated Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA), due to operator HHLA’s modernisation programme, forcing carriers to drop sailings into Germany’s largest port, reports The Loadstar.
World Ports Conference
Jan Kolditz, director of IT and terminal development of HHLA, told The Loadstar on the sidelines of the recent World Ports Conference in Hamburg that CTA was replacing its entire fleet of ship-to-shore cranes.
“All 14 are being replaced as they have come to the end of their working lives – they have been operating CTA since it opened in 2002. The oldest are being dismantled and the new units are coming in,” he explained.
Hapag-Lloyd, which owns a 25% stake in CTA, said that in combination with backlogs associated with the three-day US east coast stoppage and the Red Sea crisis, the CTA modernisation programme was forcing it to drop some Hamburg calls, switching them to Wilhelmshaven, in which the carrier also has a 30% stake.
As a result, it has switched the Hamburg call of its India/Middle East-Europe IOS service – which is operated in cooperation with CMA CGM, ONE and OOCL – to Wilhelmshaven, with the first call scheduled to the 8,600 teu Frankfurt Express, due to arrive at Wilhelmshaven on 13 September.
Asia-Europe services
It also has two Asia-Europe services – a call on ONE’s standalone extra loaders and on THE Alliance’s Asia-Europe-North America FP1 round-the world string.
Alongside a couple of Europe-South America services, it is also a crucial link into the Baltic and Scandinavia region, with 23 feeder services from eight carriers.
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Source: Loadstar
