Maritime economy and logistics

As a Hanseatic metropolis, international trade is in the blood of the people of Bremen. From here, companies control their worldwide destiny, import and export goods from the most remote corners - we present 10 of them

High interest rates, soaring rents, faltering supply chains and low consumer demand: does this mean the end of the good times for the once record-breaking logistics facilities sector? How is Bremen doing as a property hotspot and how can it safeguard its future?

BLG LOGISTICS GROUP AG & Co. KG’s AutoTerminal in Bremerhaven is a record-breaking automotive hub. Every year, the terminal handles some 1.7 million vehicles. But that’s not all.

165 years after it was founded, the Lloyd Werft was on the verge of collapse. "This business is part of our city" said ship-building company owner Thorsten Rönner. So, together with Kurt Zech, a construction entrepreneur and ship owner based in Bremen, he bought the company. The enterprise will return to its origins as a ship repair yard, as part of the business group run by Rönner and his brothers.

Robot football, exports, fish fingers and sundials – here are nine examples where Bremen is often at the top of the podium.

What would a port city be without shipping companies? Like a town without musicians, perhaps – so it’s a good thing that Bremen is home to a lot of national and international shipping companies. We’ll show you which ones.

Bremen without logistics – inconceivable! But what do the more than 1,000 companies that make up the sector actually do? We introduce ten logistics firms.

The federal state of Bremen is home to approximately 676,000 people on 420 square kilometres. Almost 22,000 companies provide more than 336,000 jobs. We present the strong sectors of Bremen as a business location.

What is the best place for a European high-tech expansion? Berlin? Paris? London? The Turkish robot producer Searover has chosen Bremen. Because there's something here that the megacities can't compete with. Welcome to Bremen - Bremen'e hoşgeldiniz!

Trade and industry are Bremen's economic heavyweights. This is an infographic of the sectors, revenues and products involved.

Classic cars are collectors' pieces and investments. Anyone who wants one can call on the services of Michael Esin: his company, LPL Automotive, sources classic cars all over the world and brings them to his customers' preferred locations, via the Bremerhaven container terminal.

Bremen's ports are the engine that drives economic activity throughout the region. But do you know which goods arrive and depart, and where? We have taken a look around the eight port complexes in Bremen.

Urban, sustainable and multi-storey – is that what the urban logistics facility of the future look like? We are talking to Markus Meyer, Head of Northern Germany for Goodman, the property developers.

Corona has triggered a boom in demand, but facilities are facing changing requirements and questions of sustainability at the same time. What are the developments currently facing the logistics properties sector?

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is composed of two cities, namely the city of Bremen itself (population approx. 568,000) and the port city of Bremerhaven (population approx. 114,000). The two cities are 53 km apart, but together they comprise the German federal state that carries the official designation “Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also making its way into the maritime industry. It enables autonomous systems, more efficient processes and safer operations. An overview of the state of AI in shipping and port industries with current examples.

An award-winning pioneer – Bremen’s Cargo Distribution Center (GVZ) was the first of its kind in Germany and is still one of the leading hubs domestically and internationally. Investors and logistics specialists alike value the benefits it offers.

Today Tamim Fannoush is an enthusiastic Bremen citizen. The Libyan originally came to the Hanseatic city to do business here. Now he lives here - and with his growing business he helps to take advantage of business opportunities in a rather unknown African country.

The autonomous, civilian MUM submarine has been designed to spend days and weeks submerged performing tasks for research and industry.

The new Silk Road is China's gigantic infrastructure project. Small and medium sized European companies can profit from it - a new network will help them. We talked to the initiators.

Bremen’s economy relies on logistics, whether road, sea, or rail. But do you know how many goods arrive in Bremen every year? Or how tall the tower would be if all the shipping containers in Bremerhaven were stacked on top of each other? We have crunched the numbers.

Bremen-based start-up cellumation has already won various awards for its invention, but now the company is really taking off. It has developed a new conveyor system called Celluveyor, whose modular construction makes it significantly more flexible and means it requires less space than conventional systems.

Logistics is the backbone of the German economy. There are few places where this is more obvious than in Bremen and Bremerhaven, which is why companies are keen to base themselves here.

At her company Sabine Grimm Yacht & Interior Design, the passionate sailor from Hastedt, Bremen, offers 65,000 fabric samples – to the delight of yacht designers from all over the world who can find many rarities in Grimm’s treasure trove of textiles.

Europe’s largest terminal for breakbulk and heavy-lift cargo is located in Neustadt port. After Antwerp, Bremen’s ports are the second most important transshipment hub in Europe for forestry products, steel products and machinery. The federal state of Bremen is preparing for the future in a highly competitive market.

Global commerce would be impossible without shipping, and wind farms at sea are indispensable for energy provision on land. Yet maritime transport systems and infrastructure are exposed to a wide range of risks. The German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) new institute in Bremerhaven aims to identify these risks and work with businesses to develop safeguards.

The depths of the ocean remain one of the last great mysteries on Earth. What is the precise composition of the seafloor? What flora and fauna inhabit it? Where has the delicate balance of the ecosystem been seriously disrupted? We still don’t have complete answers to any of these questions, but four young scientists from Bremen are aiming to change that.

Unloading shipping containers requires manual work, which is pretty unusual in the automated and digitalised world of logistics. But a Bremen-based research project aims to change all this with its IRiS robot.

Shipbuilding is a key sector of Bremen’s maritime economy. Bremen and Bremerhaven are home to prestigious international suppliers as well as innovative young companies. We present 13 companies involved in shipbuilding from all stages of the process chain.

Bremen-based company Home & Marine works in a sector that generates huge interest, but is often shrouded in secrecy – it builds complex entertainment systems for mega-yachts. The company is reluctant to speak about customers and orders, but since it was founded just over 25 years ago, Home & Marine has worked on more than 100 yachts.

The research alliance ROBEX is sending robots up active volcanoes and down into the deepest and darkest seas. Working across disciplines, the 120 scientists of the 16 institutes involved are breaking new ground on this project. They have been eagerly waiting to find out what has happened to the TRAMPER diving robot, which has been exploring the deep seas around Spitsbergen for a year. Now they are ready to bring it back.

A growing number of companies are becoming more aware of their social and environmental footprint, and are looking for ways to act with greater environmental and social responsibility. Germany’s north-west is set to become the national centre for social entrepreneurship in logistics. A new platform is under development and the first round of events is being planned to achieve this goal.

In the space of just a few years, the maritime city of Bremerhaven has developed into a service centre for the seafaring and shipbuilding industry. At the centre of it all is the company German Dry Docks, whose managing director, Guido Försterling, has already heralded the era of ‘seafaring 4.0’.

How will the UK’s impending exit from the EU affect the logistics sector? Günther Hörbst, Managing Director of the Via Bremen Foundation, on the economic links between the United Kingdom and the EU