German terminal group EUROGATE’s 25-year development path
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German terminal group EUROGATE has just celebrated its 25th anniversary. This business merger, once considered unthinkable by the German business community, has always maintained Europe's leading position in the face of the changes in the international shipping market over the past quarter century.
This special article will review EUROGATE's development history, successful experience, and look forward to its future.
Founding: a milestone from competition to cooperation
In the mid-1990s, shipping companies began to form alliances in order to enhance market competitiveness and reduce operating costs. This move puts individual container terminals at an increasingly disadvantaged position in negotiations. In response to this challenge, BLG Bremen Logistics Group, which operates a container terminal in Bremerhaven, and EUROKAI, a Hamburg family company operating a container terminal in Hamburg, reached an agreement in 1999 to merge their respective container business sectors and establish the EUROGATE Group in Bremen. Each holds 50% of the shares.
The merger was groundbreaking, not only because of the competitive relationship between Bremerhaven and Hamburg Terminal, but also because the two companies were the epitome of state-owned and private companies. When EUROGATE was established, EUROKAI injected its 33.4% stake in Contship Italia, an Italian terminal group, into it, further enhancing the group's influence in southern Europe and the Mediterranean region.
Development: Strategic Investment
Since its establishment, EUROGATE has continuously expanded its international business, especially making a number of strategic investments in key transportation hubs around the world. In 2008 and 2021, EUROGATE successively invested in the construction of two terminals in Tangier, Morocco, an important gateway from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. In 2016, EUROGATE took over and began operating Limassol Terminal in Cyprus. Currently, the group is building a new terminal at the Port of Damietta in Egypt, an important transportation hub between Europe, Asia and Africa, which is expected to be put into operation next year.
In addition to overseas investments, EUROGATE has also made important strategic arrangements for German domestic terminals. In Bremerhaven, in addition to EUROGATE's wholly-owned terminal, it also cooperates with the world's two largest shipping companies. In 1998, the Bremerhaven North Sea Terminal dedicated to Maersk Line was established, and in 2004, the Bremerhaven North Sea Terminal dedicated to Mediterranean Shipping was established. Mediterranean Shipping Gateway Terminal. These collaborations further enhance Bremerhaven’s position as an important container hub in Europe.
In 2012, EUROGATE invested in the construction of a new container terminal in Wilhelmshaven, Germany's only deep-water port with a natural water depth of 18 meters. This makes EUROGATE the only terminal group covering all German container seaports (Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven). The group not only coordinates and leverages the advantages of each port, but also provides shipping companies with the possibility of flexible calls. This is especially valuable during the severe epidemic in Hong Kong.
COSCO Pisces calls at EUROGATE Wilhelmshaven Container Terminal
Today, EUROGATE operates 12 container terminals in nine ports in five countries in continental Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. Over the past 25 years, the Group has loaded and unloaded more than 300 million standard containers, making important contributions to promoting global economic development.
Success: Willing to change and face the future
Over the past 25 years, the shipping market has undergone tremendous changes. Small shipping companies are gradually being swallowed up, and large shipping companies are constantly forming new alliances. Today, the world's three major shipping alliances account for nearly 85% of the shipping capacity. The carrying capacity of container ships has also increased from 9,000 TEU in 1999 to 24,000 TEU today, which has placed higher demands on terminal equipment and operating processes. EUROGATE takes "future-oriented port" as its development goal and continuously carries out technological upgrades and process optimization. "Willingness to change" has also become one of the core corporate values of the group's management and employees.
"OOCL Denmark", one of OOCL's 24188 TEU series, calls at EUROGATE Wilhelmshaven Container Terminal
In addition to traditional seaport container handling, EUROGATE's business scope also includes intermodal transport, cargo shipping packaging, container repair and cleaning, port equipment maintenance, port power supply network services, and wind energy port supporting services.
The future: two-wheel drive of automation and sustainability
Looking to the future, EUROGATE's development focuses on port automation and sustainable development. In terms of terminal automation transformation, the successful implementation of the Wilhelmshaven 2.0 upgrade project and the launch of two remote-controlled port machines marked a solid step for the group in port automation transformation.
In terms of sustainable development, EUROGATE is gradually moving towards the goal of achieving "carbon neutrality" in 2045. EUROAGE Hamburg Container Terminal connects berthing ships to shore power, and EUROGATE Bremerhaven Terminal provides ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering for berthing ships.
Behind all this is people. Human resources are the foundation for enterprise development, especially in the port industry, which is known for being labor-intensive. Currently, the group is training 80 vocational trainees and dual university students. Starting from 2022, EUROGATE has also launched a "talent plan", attracting 15 internal and external young people to join the two-year talent training program to ensure that new impetus is injected into the future of the company.
Cheers for the past 25 years and cheers for the next 25 years! Looking forward to the future, EUROGATE Group will continue to be people-oriented and provide better services to the global supply chain under the dual-wheel drive of automation and sustainable development.
