EUROGATE welcomes final approval for the deepening of the River Weser

Thursday, 7 July 2011 +++ The two federal states of Bremen and Lower Saxony together with the responsible authorities last week granted their final political approval for the go-ahead of the deepening of the River Weser. EUROGATE anticipates that construction work will get underway soon.

The deepening by one metre represents a significant improvement for the seaward approaches to the container terminals in Bremerhaven, which lie a mere 32 nautical miles inland. To date three shipping lines regularly handle container vessels with a capacity in excess of 13,000 standard containers (TEU) in Bremerhaven, including the biggest container ships in the world: the “Emma Maersk” with 15,500 TEUs, the “MSC Daniela” with 14,000 TEUs and the “CMA CGM Christophe Colomb” with 14,000 TEUs.

The deepening of the Weser will significantly improve the port’s tide-independent accessibility. On completion, vessels with a draught of 13.80 metres will be able to sail into and out of port independently of the tide. Postpanmax ships with a length of around 400 metres and a draught of 15.50 metres will in future have a longer time window for sailing in and out.

EUROGATE is the leading container terminal logistics Group in Europe. Jointly with Contship Italia, the network operates nine container terminals from the North Sea coast to the Mediterranean area. Two new sea terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Ust-Luga (Russia) are currently under construction. The range of services is rounded off by intermodal transport and cargomodal services. EUROGATE was established in 1999, and handled 12.6 million TEU in 2010. More information under www.eurogate.eu.

Corinna Romke
Director Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 421 1425-3803
Fax: +49 421 1425-4984
E-mail: corinna.romke@eurogate.eu

EUROGATE GmbH & Co. KGaA, KG
Präsident-Kennedy-Platz 1A
28203 Bremen, Germany