Inauguration of the new „Kaiserschleuse“ lock in Bremen
New Kaiserschleuse lock opens Bremerhaven for the largest car carriers and brings a new major order from Daimler AG for the BLG Logistics Group
Three years after the first stroke the bremenports celebrated the finishing of a martime future project: In a festivity with 900 invited guests from the world of economy, politics and society the new lock “Kaiserschleuse” was inaugurated on 29 April. The facility is 305 metres long and has a clearance width of 55 metres. Thus it is also open to the present and future largest car carriers. For planning and construction they budgeted EUR 233 million. Bremerhaven has now again two high performance port access ways. 230 metres long “Fidelio“ of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen shipping company was the first car carrier to enter the new lock. Built in 1897 the old Kaiserschleuse lock has met the requirements for about 100 years. But finally it became too small and narrow for the bigger and wider car carriers. Whereas the northern lock, which was built around 80 years ago, fulfils its targets until today, the old Kaiserschleuse could only be passed by ships up to 185 metres long and 25 metres wide. Previous to the inauguration of the new Kaiserschleuse lock the BLG Logistics Group and Mercedes signed a new contract. Daimler AG will, in future, also control overseas exports via the Bremerhaven car terminal. Dr. Holger Scherr, manager of worldwide transport logistics at Daimler, and the BLG executive board member Manfred Kuhr signed a new three-years deal, which includes the importing of Mercedes vehicles from the US production plant in Vance, Alabama. These are collected and technically processed in Bremerhaven, before being distributed to the dealers/Daimler branches. The logisticians of Mercedes and BMW conducted talks with BLG and Bremen’s port senator at the time, suggesting the Kaiserschleuse be upgraded to ensure quick handling of ships and guarantee process reliability. Quelle: LogEastics |