Page 14 - STIL 1 20223 English
P. 14
SALZGITTER STORIES
14
A SAFE HARBOR
The Salzgitter Branch Canal and port in Beddingen
An almost 18-kilometer-long branch canal con- nects the steelworks to the Midland Canal (MLK) and the rest of the federal waterways network. This benefits Salzgitter Group companies, local agriculture and the region as a whole. More than 2 million tons of freight pass through the steel- works terminal and the Salzgitter-Beddingen port to the north of the facility. This makes Bed- dingen the largest inland port in Lower Saxony.
Group subsidiary Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgit- ter GmbH (VPS) is the operator and leaseholder of the port. Dr. Johannes Dreier, Technical Director
at VPS, emphasizes the port’s importance for the regional economy: “We are a public harbor, with other companies’ goods accounting for over 80% of the freight we handle.” A ship is loaded with coils almost every week, while heavy plates pro- duced in Ilsenburg are also shipped here.
Beddingen is a ‘trimodal terminal’, as Markus Rückert, Port Operations Director, explains. Goods are transshipped at the port between road, rail and water. “We can move all kinds of heavy goods and large components, from wind turbines, grain and fuels to steel products
