Focus on ports and terminals at Intermodal Europe in Hamburg

Intermodal Europe 2013 will be held in the active port area of Hamburg, Germany, from 8-10 October and a number of port-focussed conference sessions will take place during the three day event.

Key speakers from the ports and terminals sector will be discussing port related challenges and sharing solutions during some of the conference sessions at the Hamburg Messe.

Port issues for intermodal transport will be a focus on day one, during a session led by Peter Ward, Supply Chain Commercial Manager at DP World London Gateway.

Intermodal Europe 2013 will precede the opening of London Gateway, which is the UK’s first 21st Century major deep-sea container port and Europe’s largest logistics park, due to open towards the end of 2013.

"The main focus of this case study conference session will be to look at what is currently going on within the ports and terminals sector around the world, such as economic drivers as the supply chain gets longer" says Peter Ward. "For instance, while port operations move east, manufacturing operations are moving west. To compensate for the length of the supply chain, ports are moving closer to the end customer."

London Gateway is strategically located to help importers and exporters to reduce supply chain costs.

"With several access routes via the newly improved, eight lane M25 motorway, as well as the largest intermodal railway terminal in the UK, this is an excellent example of intermodal transport," says Peter, explaining that 30% of the port’s container volume will be moved by rail. "Intermodal Europe is a leading event in our industry and, in my experience, offers a good audience of the right sort of people, all in one place and at one time" he adds.

On the same day, Alexandra Tornow, Associate Director – EMEA Research, for Jones Lang LaSalle, will lead a conference session looking at the increasing importance of logistics real estate to long-term port success, as well as the development of distribution centres at, or near, ports.

A conference session looking at innovative short sea and rail network opportunities for North West Germany and North Holland will be led by Rüdiger Beckmann, Sales Director, JadeWeserPort Logistics Zone GmbH & Co. KG.

Managing Director of GoMultimodal GmbH, Gerhard Oswald, and a representative of Nosta-Transport GmbH will also be on the panel.

"During the conference session Mr. Beckmann will address new concepts for intermodal transport, with a focus on hinterland connections, using JadeWeserPort as an example," says Mr Andreas Bullwinkel, of JadeWeserPort. "The container terminal at JadeWeserPort helps to greatly enhance supply chain efficiency. There are no traffic jams and no waiting times, helping to bring even greater benefits to supply chain customers."

Mr Bullwinkel explains that JadeWeserPort hopes to make short sea connections to the UK, Turkey and Russia. "This would help to optimise the supply chain, with new short sea lines via JadeWeserPort, creating new opportunities for the direct Hinterland" Andreas explains. "The Hinterland Hub helps with regional networking for Lower Saxony’s transit traffic and Osnabrück helps to promote intermodal traffic to JadeWeserPort."

An innovative ports and hinterland operations demonstration will be led by Benjamin Bruegelmann and Stefan Breitenbach, iPort Demonstrator Coordinator, Eurogate/HHM.

Mr Drazen Zgaljic from MEDNET will present ways to simplify and harmonise maritime and port procedures within the Mediterranean region. The MEDNET project aims to deal with specific issues surrounding port operations and customs procedures.

The TIGER DEMO project partners will lead a conference session, presenting the international experiences so far individuated and demonstrated during TIGER and TIGER DEMO.

"TIGER DEMO has been implemented to help determine the best practices for intermodal freight using railway transportation" explains Mr Castagnetti. "With direct links from Sea Ports to railways, the wait time for containers at the ports can be significantly reduced. There are also geographically specific benefits. For instance, containers received at Genoa Port can overcome the bottlenecks of the Apennines via rail to Rivalta."

Professionals from shipping lines, shipping agents, supply chain, transport and logistics and terminal managers will attend these ports focussed sessions. "These sessions will help people to gain a better understanding of current trends and developments within the ports and terminals sector" says Sophie Ahmed, Event Director for Intermodal Europe.