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Rostock Port | |
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Country | Germany |
Location | Rostock |
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Owned by | Rostock Port GmbH |
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Website rostock-port |
Rostock Port is a large German port on the Baltic Sea, it is located on the Unterwarnow estuary in the city of Rostock. Most of the port infrastructure is owned by Rostock Port GmbH (until 2016: Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock mbH "HERO"), a joint venture between the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (25.1%) and the Hanseatic City of Rostock (74.9%). The port operations are carried out by Euroports Germany GmbH & Co. and other private companies. With a total throughput of 28.8 million tons (2017), the ports of Rostock is the fourth largest German port (after Port of Hamburg, Ports of Bremen and Wilhelmshaven port). [1]
The ports of Rostock include the Rostock seaport located on the east side of the Unterwarnow (built since the 1960s), the chemical port for Yara located east of it at Breitling, the independent freight and fishing port (RFH) in the west side of the Unterwarnow, the cruise terminal at the passenger quay in Warnemünde and other smaller facilities such as the Maritime Industrial Park (MAGEB) and the Quay of Alba Nord north of the RFH and the Rostock city port, where goods are handled no more.
The history of the Rostock port goes back to the Middle Ages , especially in the days of the Hanseatic League , the port was an important hub of trade with Scandinavia and the Baltic States . With the decline of the Hanseatic League, the port lost its importance. The relocation of (world) trade to the area of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, connected with the discovery of America and the sea route to India, led to the descent of the port. After a brief boom due to grain exports in the mid-19th century, it was only of local importance.
At the change from the 19th to the 20th century, a modest port expansion began. Under the leadership of the city and port construction director Kerner, the port was expanded to the west, the coal quay and the Haedgehafen were built. The port received the first modern port crane and crane bridges for handling coal. At the same time the construction of railway – ferry began from Warnemünde to Gedser, as part of the Copenhagen – Berlin route, which greatly improved the access to the port. In Warnemünde estuary, a channel was created as a wider and, above all, better entrance to the Rostock port.The fairway in the port was deepened to 4.1 m to 6.7 m, so that the ships common in the Baltic Sea at that time could now call at the port without any problems. In the years up to the First World War , the quays at Eschenbrücke and Kehrwieder were built to the west of the Haedgehafen. The New Land in the east of the port was planned as an expansion area for the Holzhafen and the Osthafen expansion area was prepared on the eastern bank of the Unterwarnow. The outbreak of war in August 1914 initially put an end to all expansion plans.
In the years before the Second World War, the development of the aircraft industry also gave the port an upswing, albeit a small one. As part of the Nazi government's Reich Storage Program, modern grain silos and a new oil mill were built on the Silo Peninsula in the 1930s . During the war, the Allied air raids, which were primarily aimed at the aircraft industry and the residential areas of Rostock, also hit and damaged the port.
The division of Germany made it necessary to build an efficient seaport on the Baltic Sea coast of East Germany. In 1950 Walter Ulbricht had also stated: “We examined the project of a high sea port on the Baltic coast and came to the conclusion that we should refrain from building a new high sea port because we are convinced that the time will come when the foreign trade of a democratic Germany will again Ports of Hamburg and Lübeck are available. Until then, on the basis of an agreement with the Polish government, we will use part of the Polish port of Szczecin for our deep-sea fleet.” However, this decision was quickly revised. After examining several options, the decision was made in favor of the Rostock port. [2]
As early as 1951, the press reported on the first construction work in Rostock. "In Rostock, large excavators are at work and are creating the most powerful sea port in our republic." However, there were significant delays in construction as a result. The New Germany wrote in 1957: "So far, some of the tasks of the centrally managed industry have not been fulfilled because the cooperation with the districts has been inadequate. The involvement of the local organs was neglected. Now that is being changed. […] For example, shipping was previously planned by departments, which has led to a delay in the expansion of our deep-sea ports. Only now is there a uniform plan that corresponds to the plan for economic development in the Rostock district." [3]
The new port was opened on 30 April 1960 and operated by the VEB Seehafen Rostock. The port became the home port of the ships of the Deutsche Seereederei (DSR) and was able to record a steady growth in throughput until 1989, mainly through bulk cargo.
With the German reunification, a repositioning of the port was necessary. The ferry traffic to Gedser (Denmark) and Trelleborg (Sweden), temporarily also to Helsinki or Hanko (Finland), Gdynia (Poland) and the Baltic States was expanded. Roll-on/roll-off traffic also gained in importance, especially for the transport of forest products from Finland.
In 1996, following several years of decline in port traffic, the Rostock city council agreed to sell the port to Kent Investments Ltd., a company headed by the British politician and businessman David Young, Baron Young of Graffham. [4] Together with two Israeli businessmen Menachem Atzmon, and Ezra Harel. [5] It was later discovered that Lord Young was only a frontman for the Israeli investors. The two were later under investigation by Israel Securities Authority, suspected of fraud and breach of trust. They acquired the port by obtaining a loan from Rogosin Industries, a public company they controlled, which raised the money by issuing bonds. Rogosin Industries then received an option to buy 25 percent of the port in exchange for forgiving the loan. Rogosin Industries eventually exercised this option, which left Harel and Atzmon owning 75 percent of Rostock Port using Rogosin's funds. [6] The case was investigated after Rogosin Industries defaulted on its bonds, as it run out of cash to pay its bondholders. [7] The company later went into liquidation. [8]
In 2012, the Rostock city council decided to buy back the port and bring it back again under public ownership [9]
Rostock, officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock, is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, close to the border with Pomerania. With around 208,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city on the German Baltic coast after Kiel and Lübeck, the eighth-largest city in the area of former East Germany, as well as the 39th-largest city of Germany. Rostock was the largest coastal and most important port city in East Germany. The city has a large population of herring gulls that squawk loudly most days throughout the year.
Warnemünde is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. Warnemünde is one of the world's busiest cruise ports.
David Ivor Young, Baron Young of Graffham, was a British Conservative politician, cabinet minister and businessman.
Scandlines is a ferry company that operates the Rødby–Puttgarden and Gedser–Rostock ferry routes between Denmark and Germany.
Großenbrode is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast, opposite Fehmarn, approx. 8 km (5 mi) east of Heiligenhafen. Until 1963 it had a ferry connection to Gedser in Denmark. After World War II there was no ferry connection from West Germany to Denmark - the ferry port Warnemünde now being in the communist east. Großenbrode was chosen as the site for a temporary ferry connection for the 3 hour crossing to Gedser. After the Fehmarnsund bridge was built in 1963, the ferryport moved to Puttgarden on Fehmarn. Großenbrode is planned to be the site of a portal of the Fehmarn Sound Tunnel by 2028.
Gedser is a town at the southern tip of the Danish island of Falster in the Guldborgsund Municipality in Sjælland region. It is the southernmost town in Denmark, and also the southernmost point of Scandinavia and the Nordic countries. The town has a population of 659. It is an important port town on the Baltic Sea.
The Hanse Sail in Rostock is the largest maritime festival in Mecklenburg (Germany) and one of the largest in Europe.
Rostock Hauptbahnhof, also Rostock Central Station, is the main railway station in the German city of Rostock. It is situated well to the south of the city centre, to which it is linked by tram. The station was opened in 1886 by the Deutsch-Nordischer Lloyd, operating a combined railway/ferry line to Nykøbing Falster in Denmark. The station was expanded in 1913 and 1922, but was heavily damaged in World War II. The importance of the traditional route to Hamburg and Copenhagen diminished after the post-World War II division of Germany, with long-distance services instead focusing on cities within the German Democratic Republic. Electrification reached the station in 1985. After German reunification, the station was extensively modernised.
The Gedser-Rostock bridge was a proposed project that would have linked the Danish island Falster with Rostock in Germany. The 45 km (28 mi) route across the Baltic Sea would have been part of European route E55 and the main link between Scandinavia and Berlin. It was rejected in 2007 in favour of the Fehmarn Belt tunnel, which finally began construction in 2021.
The Vogelfluglinie (German) or Fugleflugtslinjen (Danish) is a transport corridor between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany.
The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz Railway was the state railway company in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. After its second nationalisation in 1890 up to the merger of the Länderbahnen into the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920 it was under the direction of the Grand Duchy's Executive Railway Board in Schwerin.
The Port of Mersin, is a major seaport located on the north-eastern coast of Mediterranean Sea in Mersin, southern Turkey. As one of the largest harbors in the country, it is Turkey's main gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. It was constructed during the 1950s as a major government project. It is the country's second largest port after Ambarli, near Istanbul. Owned by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), its operating right is transferred on May 11, 2007, to PSA – Akfen consortium for a period of 36 years.
The Neustrelitz–Warnemünde Railway is a railway line in the North German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Most of the line is a double-tracked, electrified main line and runs for almost 130 kilometres from Neustrelitz to Warnemünde. It is also known in German as the Lloydbahn, referring to the Deutsch-Nordischer Lloyd company, which built the line and operated it in its early years after its opening in 1886.
Warnemünde Lighthouse is a lighthouse situated on the Unterwarnow, the estuary of the Warnow river, in Warnemünde, a district in the city of Rostock. The lighthouse has a height of 36.9 metres (121 ft) and was put into service in 1898.
The Bad Kleinen–Rostock railway is a double track electrified railway in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Ludwigslust–Bad Kleinen section of the line is double track. The line was opened in 1850 by the Mecklenburg Railway Company and is one of the oldest railways in Germany and is part of the Leipzig–Magdeburg–Schwerin–Rostock main line.
Puttgarden station is a major ferry terminal on the Vogelfluglinie on the island of Fehmarn in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It lies between the town of Puttgarden and Marienleuchte.
The region of Middle Mecklenburg represents that area of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with the most developed infrastructure in a state that is otherwise rather underdeveloped structurally. Middle Mecklenburg includes the largest urban centre in the state, the Hanseatic city of Rostock with its 200,000 inhabitants together with the surrounding district of the same name. The most important river in the region is the Warnow. Its transport links radiate from Rostock in a star configuration and the metropolitan region of the port city is served by a public transport network that includes the Rostock S-Bahn. Other important centres are the county towns of Bad Doberan and Güstrow. The main tourist attraction is the Baltic Sea coast along the Bay of Mecklenburg with the Salzhaff, the sea cliffs and the seaside resorts of Rerik, Kühlungsborn, Heiligendamm, Warnemünde and Graal-Müritz. In the south Middle Mecklenburg transitions into the naturally very unspoilt region of the Mecklenburg Lake District. In the east the River Recknitz forms its boundary with West Pomerania, in the west it merges gradually into West Mecklenburg.
The Mecklenburg Spa Railway is a non-electrified, single track branch line in the north of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It runs from Rövershagen, east of the Hanseatic city of Rostock, to Graal-Müritz on the Baltic coast. Its name came originally from the name of its operator and was later transferred to the line.
The Rostock S-Bahn is a S-Bahn network in Rostock in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It consists of three lines with a total length of about 90 km. Line S1 runs from Rostock Hauptbahnhof to Warnemünde within the Rostock urban area. S-Bahn operations started on 28 September 1974. Later, the lines to the north-east to the port (Seehafen) of Rostock and to the south to the town of Güstrow via Schwaan were included in the S-Bahn network. The line to the port was discontinued in 2012, but at same time the line to Güstrow via Laage was included as line S3 of the S-Bahn. Until 2014 the rolling stock mainly consisted of push–pull trains with Waggonbau Görlitz double-deck coaches. Since then all lines have been operated with new Bombardier Talent 2 railcars.
Warnemünde station is located in the seaside resort of Warnemünde, a district of the Hanseatic city of Rostock in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The station opened on 30 September 1903 and is located on the Neustrelitz–Warnemünde railway. It is the terminus of all three Rostock S-Bahn lines. In addition, some long-distance trains serve the station. Until 1995, it was the starting point of ferries to Gedser in Denmark. The station building and some other facilities of the station have heritage protection.