Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies remains optimistic about the refinancing of the Jade-Weser Port. Throughput increases thanks to Hapag-Lloyd.
Despite the need for additional funding totaling €125 million for the Jade-Weser Port, the federal states of Lower Saxony and Bremen intend to continue their involvement as sponsors of the deep-water container port in unchanged form. Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economics and Transport, Olaf Lies (SPD), made this clear today at the presentation of the annual balance sheet of Lower Saxony’s seaports in Oldenburg.
Even if the additional contribution of around € 62.5 million each to settle a loan due at Jadeweserport Realisierungsgesellschaft is a “major effort” for Bremen in view of the budget situation, there is no discussion about dividing up the shareholder shares in the port differently.
Lower Saxony holds 50.1% and Bremen 49.9% of JWP Realisierungsgesellschaft. “These ratios will not change. There is no reason to do so,” said Lies when asked whether Lower Saxony would buy shares in the deep-water container port from its Bremen partner due to budgetary problems.
The port operating company in Wilhelmshaven needs the additional funding to repay a loan to the European Investment Bank, which was part of the financing concept for the port project from the outset. Lower Saxony has already included its contribution in the budget for 2026, while Bremen is still discussing the provision of the necessary funds as part of the upcoming 2026/27 double budget.
Lies referred to the difficult economic environment in the start-up phase of the deep-water port in 2012 following the global financial and economic crisis. The original assumptions for the handling development and therefore also for the refinancing of the JWP could not be fulfilled as a result. Last year, however, the container business in Wilhelmshaven finally picked up speed.
Throughput grew by +59% to over 843,000 TEU. “The great advantages that the port offers are now becoming visible thanks to the entry of Hapag-Lloyd,” explained Lies. The Hamburg-based liner shipping company has held a 30% stake in Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven since 2022. The Jade-Weser Port is also a “North Hub” in the Gemini network, which Hapag-Lloyd operates together with alliance partner Maersk. “We are very confident that we will continue to have a clearly positive development,” said Lies.
Overall, 2024 was a successful year for the seaports of Lower Saxony. In addition to container handling, growth in bulk goods (crude oil, coal, etc.) in Wilhelmshaven and Stade and in general cargo and building materials in Cuxhaven and Emden also had a positive impact on the overall balance. The volume of goods handled in all nine Lower Saxony seaports together rose sharply by 10% to 55.5 million tons.
“This was the best result in the last ten years,” said Inke Onnen-Lübben, Managing Director of the marketing company Seaports of Niedersachsen. Despite the tense situation in the automotive sector, the port of Emden managed to maintain the handling of new vehicles at 1.24 million units, almost at the same level as the previous year (1.29 million cars). It is now virtually on a par with Bremerhaven, where the number of units handled in 2024 fell by 15% to 1.25 million cars.
Brake recorded a sharp decline in volumes – partly due to the Hunte Bridge being closed twice due to ship collisions. As a result, the port on the Lower Weser was cut off from rail traffic, which transports around 40% of the cargo volume, for weeks. The volume of goods fell from 6.1 million tons in 2023 to around 5.4 million tons.
Oldenburg was hit even harder with losses of -83% for sea freight. The municipal port can no longer be called at by seagoing vessels since the accidents. Following the closure of two coal-fired power plants in Nordenham, the privately operated port also experienced a drop in earnings to 1.7 million tons compared to 2.3 million tons in 2023.
