Expansion at Kalundborg

Plans are well advanced for work to start at the Danish port of Kalundborg on a major investment that will see a new container terminal and industry hub developed on the south side of the harbour.

Costed at €26 million the new terminal will provide berthing for the largest container ships as well as land for container handling and related industries.

Kalundborg is located in what is claimed to be the Greater Copenhagen area and the new development is proposed to help establish Kalundborg as the major container port for the area. To be called Ny Vesthavn, the new container dock will have an area of 330,000 square metres and will have an alongside berth of 500 metres which will have a depth alongside of 15 metres which is claimed to be unique for the Zealand and the Greater Copenhagen area.

With this development the Port of Kalundborg is taking a decisive step toward its vision of growth through port expansion plans. The existing port already extends to 800.000 square metres and the additional 330,000 extra square metres with its increased water depth alongside will allow the port to increase its container traffic both with large long haul ships and with feeder services to make it the focus of container traffic in the region. With this expansion the port is also hoping to attract new industries to the area.

"Deep water is an important future issue, and we want to invest in the future", said the CEO of Kalundborg Port, Bent Rasmussen. "But we have run out of space for port-using companies to establish themselves. In order to fulfil the enormous growth potential of the port and the region we ill now expand with more square metres and increased water depth which will enable new companies to settle as well as securing the port and the surrounding business cluster to keep contributing actively to further development."

"With global companies such as Statoil, Novo Nordisk and Novozymes, the business cluster surrounding the Port of Kalundborg is the largest and most dynamic industrial area in eastern Denmark outside of Copenhagen," continued Rasmussen. "The cluster contributes to Kalundborg being one of the areas in Denmark with the highest growth as well as a breeding ground for continuing development.

The new port area will create space for a further growth boost in the area. Throughout the whole process, the maritime cluster and all other business stakeholders in the area have supported the investment as they consider it a decisive investment for reaching even higher growth numbers in the future. An area of growth in the port is the cruise ship calls with these showing an increase at the dedicated cruise terminal.

"It is the highest priority for us to keep strengthening the infrastructure, expand the business space and improve the facilities for existing and new port-using companies in order to support the already viable business environment in the Kalundborg area. We consider ourselves a foresighted port and we want to help preparing existing and new business partners for the future," commented the

Chairman of the Board at the Port of Kalundborg, Jakob Beck Jensen.

Work on this major expansion will begin in the summer of 2017 and the authorities expect the new port area to be fully functional from the fall of 2018. 60,000 square metres of the newly created area will be used for dock facilities, roads and parking facilities etc. The remaining 270,000 square metres will be made available for port-using companies. Part of the plan will entail moving the existing container terminal from the main port area to Ny Vesthavn. This will free up the old terminal with its limited alongside depths for other port uses. Project Ny Vesthavn has been approved by all relevant authorities and environmental agencies. For the new port at Ny Vesthavn a new channel will be dredged close by the existing one to provide the deep water access.

This major port expansion was part of a master plan for the port that was developed by Niras some years ago. This original plan envisaged a 600 metre deep water quay at Ny Vesthavn as well as two ro-ro ferry berths. The current plan on which construction will start is a smaller version with a reduced quay length and the omission of the ferry berths. Part of the motivation for not including the ferry berths was the expansion of tunnels and bridges that have been constructed in recent years to link many of the islands in the Danish archipelago thus reducing the need for ferry services.

On the inner side of the harbour from the proposed new development there is a deep water terminal jetty that is used to bring in coal for the adjacent coal fired power station, the largest in Denmark. This is likely to face closure in a few years time thus making further land available for development. The same jetty is also used by tankers from is fuels to the nearby oil terminal. These two facilities are served by a dredged channel that allows access for loaded bulk carriers and tankers.

In a separate development but in the same area the port of Kalundborg and Schultz Shipping have purchased a 23.000 square meters site from DONG Energy. This was originally part of the DONG power station site and is located next to the Ny Vesthavn project site. The buyer is a new company, Kalundborg Asnæs Terminal (KAT), which is owned on a 50/50 joint venture basis by the Port of Kalundborg and Schultz Shipping. The same two companies are also partners in the company Kalundborg Tank Terminal, KTT, who owns 15 tanks of 33.000 m3 and is building two more with a capacity of 5.000 m3.

By Dag Pike