Harbour collaboration in transportation hotspot

DISTRIBUTION: In 2000 a new Danish harbour law opened up the commercialisation of harbour facilities previously owned by municipalities. It has led to the creation of the country’s largest harbour system, close to the country’s largest transport centre with direct access to motorways and with a flexibility that benefits customers.

Fredericia harbour terminal is one of the country’s busiest. It is the receiving harbour for Danish raw oil from the North Sea which is pumped directly to the terminal. And it is the country’s busiest harbour for agricultural and feed products, as well as steel and wood. An average of 300 trucks transport goods to and from the terminal every day. 

Denmark’s largest harbour system, Associated Danish Ports (ADP) A/S, which currently comprises three of the country’s most centrally located harbour facilities in Fredericia, Middelfart and Nyborg respectively, is planning to enlarge with one or several more harbours in the near future.

“The idea is to have several harbours under the same umbrella. It offers efficient solutions for the benefit of customers,” says ADP’s managing director Jens Peter Peters. “There is a lot of synergy in concentration. Shared marketing, shared IT systems and not least flexibility so that customers always can be offered the optimal solution.”

The three existing harbours in the collaboration are all located on Denmark’s most important east-west axis, which via three large bridges connects not only Denmark, but also the Nordic region with the European continent. The three harbours each have their characteristics which supplement each other.

“With a water depth of more than 15 metres, the terminal in Fredericia is among the deepest in Denmark. We have direct access to the large motorway net, and also have Denmark’s largest transport centre right next to us with connections to the railway net,” says Jens Peter Peters. “It gives the harbour an amazing platform for distribution not just to Denmark, but to the whole of Northern Europe, including the growing market in the Baltic States.”

In 2000, a new Danish harbour law enabled Fredericia and Nyborg to join forces in a commercial company which could compete with other harbours and develop new distribution opportunities. Nyborg lies directly on the international deep sea route in the Great Belt, through which all traffic to and from the Baltic passes. In connection with the opening of the Great Belt tunnel and bridge, large areas in Nyborg became available for development, which made it suitable as a container harbour. In 2001, ADP acquired a private harbour in Middelfart on the other side of the Little Belt from Fredericia. The terminal in Middelfart has given Fredericia a considerable enlargement which supplements several types of freight which up to then had little space in Fredericia.

“The whole challenge is to be able to offer place of call when customers want it, and then get the goods offloaded and out to the recipients as quickly as possible. And naturally also to be able to offer storage space if customers require it,” says Peters. “The commercialisation of our company has meant that we now see ourselves from the outside to a much greater extent. We put ourselves in the customer’s place, listen to the market and then offer customers what they want to have.”

Before Fredericia and Nyborg became Associated Danish Ports, around 14.9 million tons of goods were handled between the two terminals. The plan at the time of the merger was to increase this figure to about 18 million tons during 2004. That figure was not quite reached, largely due to the closing down of a chemical factory which was located in the harbour area, and one of Fredericia’s biggest customers. In addition, exports of malt barley failed because of a bad harvest in the first half of 2004.

“On the other hand there has been a disproportionate increase in both the fluid and fixed bulk of other products, just like container traffic which is increasing strongly. And it is container traffic in particular that we are expecting a lot from at the Nyborg terminal. A number of large expansion plans have been prepared which can further cement ADP’s role, and the leading position of the integrated harbour system.”

There is also a readiness to take decisive action if other harbour terminals around the central transport axis want to participate in the collaboration.

“The better the conditions and flexibility we can offer our customers, the greater the benefits customers gain using ADP’s service,” says Jens Peter Peters. “Flow, efficiency and safety are what it’s all about. And that is exactly what we stand for.”