From its early days as a 700-meter long quay in the 1960s, the Port of Bremerhaven in Northern Germany has expanded to become the fourth largest container terminal in Europe, with nearly five kilometres of quays and 14 berths for mega-container vessels. As a major player in global shipping, Maersk has also contributed to the port's growth, leveraging its short and fast intermodal transport routes to benefit many hundreds of customers.
Now with a new full service warehouse uniquely positioned 23 kilometres away from the marine terminal, Maersk can optimise the flow of import and export goods further. We can reduce overall logistics costs and bring down total transit time by bypassing steps in your current supply chain, for example by providing services such as consolidation and deconsolidation under one roof.
The proposition is an attractive one for a wide range of customers: Bremerhaven Port is only 32 kilometres from the North Sea making it a natural gateway for goods entering Europe from Asia, the Americas, and other parts of the world. Its vast European catchment area includes Scandinavia to the north, Central and Eastern Europe to the east, and Austria, Switzerland and Italy to the south. And it is well connected by rail and road (via the A27 autobahn to Germany's highway network) so that when goods leave the warehouse they are quickly en route to major European markets.
With Maersk, the logistics of making that happen are already well established – we are the largest storage capacity provider for the port, and handle 53% of the total deep-sea throughput from Bremerhaven (1.1 million Forty-Foot Equivalent containers in 2020).
Gains in efficiency and speed
For many customers, our new warehouse will mean an excellent new logistic option for their retail, lifestyle, tech and/or automotive goods, with cargo delivered close to the terminal before vessel departure to reduce potential delays and port waiting time.
One customer has already made significant cost-efficiencies by dividing the distribution of retail cargo that was solely imported through Rotterdam, and now, like other Maersk customers, uses the additional cost-efficiencies of import flows through Bremerhaven as a natural hub to the Nordics.
Other customers will benefit from cargo being moved from Bremerhaven port to our warehouse, to reduce dependence on their own gateway warehouses. Cargo can be deconsolidated and consolidated by Maersk with cargo from other customer origins in our warehouse – before secure packing, shipping or transport by road or rail. This optimises your use of container space, or capacity of truck trailers, and therefore lowers costs.
There will also be customers who take advantage of our advanced warehousing services, with an under-one-roof solution where speed-to-market can be regulated, using the warehouse in Bremerhaven as a strategic fulfilment centre with optimised picking and packing. This has real benefits in supporting, for example, a complete knock-down (CKD) model for automotive parts, or for meeting the time-critical demands of different retail order lines, where it's vital to build an agile and resilient supply chain to ensure stock availability.
By optimising shipping consolidation at our new Bremerhaven warehouse, we can really help customers tackle their freight costs and ensure orders arrive in a timely fashion through single-vendor orchestration.
Space, technology and sustainability
Look into Maersk's new 76,580m2 warehouse from one of its 60+ dock doors and you'll see around 6,000m2 of additional mezzanine space, more than 80,000 pallet positions for efficient handling, e-truck charging, solar panels and a heat pump-controlled environment.
In summary, all aspects are tailored to achieve minimal CO2 emissions and streamline the transportation of goods. By optimizing load capacity, the frequency of trips can be reduced to and from the port, enabling lower carbon emissions.
The total package allows Maersk to provide certification contributing to your sustainability goals, EU regulation and an environmentally friendly supply chain.
Our warehousing solutions are also underpinned by investment in technology, automation and robotics. Bremerhaven's warehouse team can provide you with bespoke automation solutions if needed, such as automated retrieval systems and sorters for efficient picking in your own dedicated or multi-user warehouse space. And since our Bremerhaven warehouse is a fully-owned Maersk facility (with no lease complications), you can be confident in our warehousing capabilities as part of a long term partnership.
Joined up journeys
Having specialized Intermodal providers has great strengths however during handovers between ocean, customs, warehousing and distribution a small problem can have a great knock-on effect and be costly.
By combining shipping, distribution and warehousing you benefit from a seamless end-to-end solution with fewer logistic service providers in the chain. That reduces complexity, so you gain speed, control and visibility – and potential economies of scale.
Our warehouse is located close to the Port of Bremerhaven and focused on intermodal transport which improves efficiency, with faster coastal connections than inland cities, and a gateway for clients to reach their customers and markets more efficiently. Add greater speed-to-market and predictability to your supply chain. Are you ready to enhance efficiency?
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