Port of Kiel expands forest products handling
Swedish concerns SCA (Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget) and Iggesund Paperboard AB (Holmen Group) are including Kiel in their logistics network, the company said in its press release. In future Kiel’s Ostuferhafen will join those ports handling and distributing the forest products of the two companies.
The enterprises announced on June 24th in Stockholm that long-term contracts had been signed with the German port of Kiel. From summer 2016 ships of the companies will call regularly at the Ostuferhafen and handle up to 1 million tons of forest products, general cargoes and raw materials annually. From Kiel the forest products will be delivered to points in Germany as well as to central and east European markets.
Forest products have been among the most important trading commodities in the Baltic region for many years and Kiel has a long tradition of handling and storing such products. “The demands of these customers suit Kiel very well”, said Dirk Claus. “What clinched it for us was our location right at the exit of the Kiel Canal as well as the good all-round package we were able to offer.” Kiel can make use of existing infrastructure in many parts of the Ostuferhafen. Berth 1, which has been selected, is 400 m long and has an alongside water depth of 10m. The facility is equipped with two port cranes and a heavy duty RoRo ramp which was installed as recently as 2013. Directly connected to the berth in addition are two large paper storage halls which are also suitable for cellulose and paperboard products. Further warehouse capacity will be available from the coming summer.
Although the SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co.KG will provide the port facilities and storage areas, the handling of the cargo will be carried out by SEEHAFEN KIEL Stevedoring GmbH. With the new business in mind, the handling company will bring in additional equipment and hire a further 50 employees. The new project will complement existing traffic business in the Ostuferhafen and cruise ships will continue to call at Berth 1 in the same way as they have in the past.
