December 03, 2008

German shipping group plans Baltic container terminals

It is reported that a German shipping group, Deutsche Seereederei, has outlined plans for three Baltic Sea container terminals including one in the Latvian capital Riga and also said it aims to take over German Danish ferry company Scandlines.

Mr Horst Rahe CEO of Deutsche Seereederei told Ostsee Zeitung newspaper that Deutsche Seereederei expected container shipping on the Baltic to surge from 5 million units currently to 20 million annually in the future.

He said Deutsche Seereederei based at Rostock in Germany, is assessing whether to build three terminals on the coast so it could establish its own port network over the next seven to 10 years. Deutsche Seereederei has established a port operations subsidiary.

Deutsche Seereederei was formerly the state shipping line employing 14,500 people in communist East Germany. Rahe said it had done well during 15 years in private ownership. He and a partner promised when they bought it in 1993 to keep 2,235 jobs and it now had a group payroll of 8,000. The group has invested in real estate and cruise shipping, but also aims to return to regular cargo shipping.