Extraordinary tour to extraordinary companies

Maritime Cluster Northern Germany on an "Afsteken" tour through Bremerhaven

In addition to Europe's longest Stromkaje quay, Bremerhaven is contributing to the future of Germany as a maritime centre with a number of innovative companies. This was the conclusion reached by the participants of this year's second "Afsteken" tour organised by the Bremen office of the Maritime Cluster Northern Germany (MCN). Around two dozen members of the network took part in this extraordinary tour of exceptional companies. "We once again achieved our goal of bringing maritime companies and entrepreneurs together to discuss innovative products and services," said a delighted Andreas Born, Head of the MCN's Bremen office.

Anyone visiting the port, shipbuilding and shipping city of Bremerhaven cannot avoid a tour of the container terminal. This also applies to the representatives of companies that are themselves active in the maritime industry. In Christian Lankenau, Labour Director of the handling company Eurogate, the guests from the MCN had a particularly knowledgeable "guide". Before joining the Eurogate Executive Board, the 46-year-old was Managing Director of North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven (NTB), among other things. Lankenau explained Eurogate's various decarbonisation efforts at the terminal to the guests and also commented on the current volume shifts between the German ports and their competitors Rotterdam and Antwerp: "We must do everything we can to maintain our competitiveness. The most important factor here is the deepening of the Outer Weser by one metre."

In addition to the topic Digitisation - processes in container handling - for example - the topic of Decarbonisation continues to be the common thread running through the visit programme. Hydrogen as the basis for climate-neutral fuels is an important topic in Bremerhaven. There is a whole series of hydrogen research projects in the city. Dr Saskia Greiner, Innovation Manager at the city's business development agency BIS-Bremerhaven, announced that Bremerhaven would soon be producing "green" hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen produced with the help of renewable energies. The participants were able to see an application for green hydrogen on site at the berth of the new Uthörn. In the current MariSynFuel research project, green methanol will be produced on site in Bremerhaven in future so that the Uthörn can be the first research vessel to be operated in a climate-neutral manner.

Afsteken lifeboat. Surprise moments: The ride on the free-fall lifeboat at the RelyOn Nutec training centre in the fishing port was one of the special moments of the Afsteken tour, photo: Wolfgang Heumer

The entire Afsteken tour took place in Bremerhaven's first hydrogen bus. The climate-neutral bus tour led from the container terminal to the fishing harbour. Contrary to what the name suggests, Bremerhaven's largest industrial estate is home to a number of modern mechanical and plant engineering companies. These companies include a production plant belonging to the Saarland hydraulics specialist Hydac. Key components, including those for hydrogen tank systems and methanol-powered marine engines, are manufactured and sold there.

Not all of the companies visited deal directly with current topics such as decarbonisation, but they still make an indirect contribution to it. Training, further education and staff qualifications play an important role in exploiting the opportunities of digitalisation and mastering the challenges of decarbonisation. One provider is IQ - Intelligent Qualification from Bremen. Regardless of the level of education and qualification, suitable qualification programmes are provided here for further professional development. Another company example is the RelyOn Nutec safety training centre, where employees of offshore wind farms, among others, are trained in the necessary safety techniques in practice. The participants on the Afsteken tour were able to gain their own experience: they took off in a free-fall lifeboat to their next destination - the company Ankron Water Services, which offers water analyses, for example in ballast water management on cargo ships.

The name of the MCN tour is borrowed from the Low German word Afsteken, which can be translated into High German as both "detour" and "skewer". With the detours to maritime (but also other) companies, the MCN wants to help members of the network to "skewer" interesting business ideas, products and services. The fact that the participants come into contact with potential new business partners was also clearly achieved this time.