The Greater Bay Area: A Port Powerhouse

A Major Player

The Port of Hamburg is without doubt a big-hitting European player which – despite being an inland port with 100 kilometres of river to navigate – offers a big advantage to Chinese shippers. It has excellent connectivity, not only to the rest of Western Europe via road and rail, but also to Eastern Europe and China.

Mattern admits that Hamburg is facing growing competition from southern European ports, such as Barcelona, but believes they have a long way to go to catch up with the huge volumes of trade handled by the likes of Hamburg. He said: “On one side is the fact that Hamburg is an inland port with 100 kilometres of river to navigate, but we have excellent hinterland connections, which has helped establish us as a major European port on the maritime Silk Road.

“Of course, there is competition between the southern European ports and those in the north, but the big volumes are handled by the north, and the southern ports have a long, long way to go to catch up. The northern ports, such as Hamburg, also have an edge due to geography, because between the south and the north of Europe you have The Alps, which are certainly a considerable obstacle.”

Wider Perspective

Mattern says that despite losing ground to other Chinese ports in terms of cargo volumes in recent years, Hong Kong remains pivotal to the success of the GBA, due largely to the Port of Hamburg’s long-standing relationship with the city and the Special Administrative Region’s considerable and well developed international connections.

However, the German businessman is keen to stress that it is his belief that in order for the GBA to prosper and succeed the focus should very much be on co-operation, discussion and knowledge exchange. This three-pronged approach, he says, should be applied not only to all the stakeholders in the GBA initiative, but also to those involved in making China’s wider belt and road plans work in connecting east and west.

Mattern said: “We are already very strong in Southern China; we have a big office in Shanghai and are active in Beijing to make sure that we are part of not only the GBA game but the national Chinese game.

“We have a very good relationship with all of the ports in China and our perspective is that we do not see this as a game in which Hong Kong is on one side and other ports across the Pearl River Delta Region are on the other. We see it from a wider perspective.

“The GBA will need the Hong Kong port, but it will also need ports on the western side of the region too. It is important to partner with everyone and the initiative will benefit this.

“There needs to be discussions and knowledge exchange between ports and that includes Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.”

Automation and Innovation

On the way to become the first fully automated port in Europe, the Port of Hamburg believes the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, which is clearly apparent across the cities which make up the GBA, can be harnessed to put the region at the forefront of the global push to clean up the environment and meet growing demands for lower CO2 emissions.

Mattern said: “The amount of activity in and around ports clearly has an impact on the environment. We would like to think that given the Port of Hamburg’s position as the first fully automated port in Europe and, more generally, the way the city of Hamburg has embraced and implemented new technologies such as electric ferries and the use of drones, that we can add value to discussions across the GBA about cutting emissions and meeting environmental targets set by the international community.”

Big Chinese Investment

Official data suggests that more than 550 Chinese companies have invested in the city of Hamburg and almost one third of all containers passing through the port shuttle between the city and China.

A measure of the role Hong Kong can play in boosting that investment even further as the GBA moves forward came in November 2019, when a delegation from the Port of Hamburg visited Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region to explore the potential of the GBA and build even greater business connectivity. The delegation was very focused on Hong Kong’s role in trade across China and the Asia-Pacific region and how the belt and road initiative could act as the gel holding things together.

Mattern, who led the delegation, said: “The Pearl River Delta is one of the centres of the Chinese economy and its growth to become the GBA will further increase its importance. We therefore see it as appropriate to present the high-performance and reliable Port of Hamburg and to further deepen existing relationships.

“The traditionally excellent seaborne links between Hamburg and China are now supplemented by more than 200 weekly train links offered, making Hamburg the European hub on the New Silk Road.”