The Port of Frankfurt is one of the largest and most important inland ports in Germany. As a trimodal hub, it links the water, rail and road modes of transport, enabling the city to be supplied and disposed of effectively. To highlight the logistical importance of the port and present the companies' current projects, the Gemeinschaft Frankfurter Hafenanlieger (GFH) and HFM Managementgesellschaft für Hafen und Markt invited guests to a boat tour of the Osthafen with City Councilor Stephanie Wüst and representatives of several port companies.
"The Port of Frankfurt, with its considerable handling volume of almost three million tons by ship and 1.5 million tons by rail, makes a massive contribution to relieving traffic in the Rhine-Main region. In addition, comparatively environmentally friendly transports are possible with the inland vessel, which brings the city closer to its goal of CO₂ neutrality. These transports must be expanded and the port as a whole strengthened in order to enable the region's commercial enterprises to organize their transports efficiently and sustainably," stressed Economic Affairs Director Wüst.
The group started at Heidelberg Materials in Osthafen 2. The building materials specialist with a leading market position in cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete has more than 51,000 employees at almost 3,000 locations in over 50 countries. With its 20 employees, the Frankfurt plant in the heart of the Rhine-Main region makes a significant contribution to sustainable construction. For 24 years, the plant from Osthafen 2 has been supplying construction sites in the region with various building materials. Thanks to its location on the water, the aggregates required for concrete, such as sand and gravel, can be delivered by ship in a climate-friendly manner. The handling technology required for this has been brought up to date in recent years. "Our ready-mix concrete plant in Frankfurt is also a pioneer in Germany when it comes to sustainability, as it was the first concrete plant ever to receive the gold certificate from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC) back in 2017," reported Matthias Elser, authorized signatory and operations manager for the South-West region at Heidelberg Materials. The CSC runs a global certification system that is intended to provide companies and their customers in the concrete, cement and aggregates sectors with information on the extent to which work is carried out in an ecologically, socially and economically responsible manner. "An example of this is a particular concrete that we sell: EcoCrete® concrete is high-quality and reliable, but it has a new focus: sustainability through significant CO₂reduction," Elser said.
The boat tour then passed through the Offenbach lock and concluded at Osthafen 1 to Contargo Rhein-Main, the operator of the container terminal. "Logistics has a key role to play in the transformation, i.e. the further development and realignment of the economy under the banner of climate protection and digitalization. For the Contargo Group, the focus is on the goal of making our entire operations climate-neutral by 2045. That is why we are convinced that combined transport must grow. It is the only way to ensure that emissions are reduced while at the same time guaranteeing the supply of goods," said Christian Eichmeier, Managing Director Contargo Rhein-Main. "An expansion is therefore necessary for our terminal in Frankfurt's Osthafen to create the capacity for this. The plan is to expand the area by approximately 20,000 square meters and to erect a third crane. This will enable us to handle even more and even faster containers from inland waterways and rail. At the same time, we are working to further reduce emissions at the terminal. In addition to using green electricity, we are planning to install shore power systems for inland vessels. This will enable them to switch off their diesel-fueled engines during their lay times and be supplied with energy from us. For transportation, we have been offering our customers an environmentally friendly supply chain under the name 'econtargo' for several months. Those who book it do not buy pure compensation services, but combined transport with e-trucks in local traffic and eco-powered trains in the main run. In this way, we offer our customers a way to reduce their own CO₂ footprint," Eichmeier explained. From 2024, Contargo will add low-emission inland waterway vessels to its electricity-powered supply chain, powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells, state-of-the-art Stage VI engines and electric batteries.
City Councilor Wüst summed up her impressions at the end of the tour, saying, "The innovative strength and commitment of the port companies impress me anew every time I visit. Frankfurt would do well to strengthen the port so that it can continue to live up to its importance for the economy and the logistical performance of our city.
