Comment / DVZ radar: Vincent Clerc says Hamburg port is 'overrated'

17/05/2024

(This post was originally published in German in Die Zeit, distributed via local news agencies. The story was published by Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung (DVZ) on 16 May; DVZ and Premium have agreed a partnership according to which selected corporate/supply chain content published by DVZ can be exclusively used by Premium.)

The head of the world’s second-largest shipping company Maersk, Vincent Clerc, considers the Port of Hamburg to be overvalued. “Is Hamburg the natural gateway to the world to export German cars, for ...

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Eduard Winkelmann
June 04, 2024 at 3:05 pm
Good afternoon,
fully agree! Accessability vs. operational cost is one aspect. Others are ecological footprint and safety (20.000 plus TEU ships navigating river elbe up to terminals located “downtown” Hamburg). And all the money is spent without being sure of the cargo volume this is generating. Carriers will continue to optimize their networks. Port selection will merely be based on cargo generation (customers requirements) and operational efficiency from source to sink (carriers). By adopting their new strategy, “integrators” of the entire supply chain quoting “end-to-end” terms and conditions, such container lines will have a very strong control of their cargo and equipment flows (including imbalances and empties). It also implies that they will “channel” their cargo via terminals they own or hold shares, e.g. Gemini (MAERSK & HALO), COSCO, CMA, MSC etc. In this context, if the HHLA/MSC deal, hopefully not passing the hurdels, will produce the additional container volume is very doubtful. Some HHLA customers will leave their terminals (to Eurogate?!) others like MAERSK & HALO go
Bremerhaven & Wilhelmshaven (two of their new HUB-Ports in Europe). In a nutshell, MSC’s major interest is “METRANS”, HHLA’s cash cow. For a reasonable amount of money, MSC gets a network of say 165 trains a week from/to Hamburg into the European Hinterland. This is a major boost for their europewide railnetwork being built up by MSC’s logistic outfit MEDLOG.
I sincerely hope the above will provoke some discussions and possibly even arguments. I would very much like to further elaborate with you or the friends from DVZ, either on this channel or i a meeting.
Best regards
Eduard Winkelmann
EW-Consult
Former Senator Lines, China Shipping

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- Alessandro Pasetti
  June 05, 2024 at 6:49 am
  Dear Eduard, I run our Premium product – thanks a lot for your comment. I reached out on LinkedIn, it would be great to talk to you. Best regards, AP ([email protected])
  
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