The Port of Hamburg’s Waltershofer Hafen is set to undergo a major expansion as part of a long-term strategy to strengthen the port’s role as a key European logistics hub.
The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) announced plans to enhance the Elbe approach and create additional terminal yards to streamline access to the Container Terminals Buchardkai and Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH).
“This project will enhance the performance of the Port of Hamburg and represents a vital investment in its long-term competitiveness,” said Jens Meier, chief executive of HPA.
“We are also laying the groundwork for the next steps towards a climate-neutral port.”
The turning basin will be widened from 480 to 600 metres, improving navigational safety and enabling faster, more efficient vessel manoeuvres. Currently, around 90% of the world’s largest container vessels calling at Hamburg are handled at Waltershofer Hafen.
The infrastructure development, estimated at €1.1 billion, will be partly publicly funded and completed by the mid-2030s. The newly developed land, to remain in public ownership, will be leased to EUROGATE under market-based terms.
EUROGATE has committed at least €700 million to expand and modernise the CTH terminal. “We are initiating the transition from manual operations to an automated terminal concept,” said Tom Eckelmann, chair of EUROGATE.
“This is fully aligned with our goals of boosting productivity and achieving decarbonisation.”
The future terminal will integrate fully with road and rail networks and use electrically powered, autonomously guided vehicles, supporting Hamburg’s climate neutrality targets by 2040. Pending approval from the European Commission, infrastructure construction is expected to begin following the conclusion of an upstream legal review in 2026.
