A work colleague invited me to accompany her on a harbor bus tour organized by one of our forwarding companies. Last time we watched the Hamburg Freezers game in a box. I was really excited about the opportunity and had to wait about two months for the big day to come around. I've been more and more involved with shipping at work so this experience seemed very fitting.
It was more than fitting -- it was phenomenal. It was so fascinating and I was so into it. All the while I was thinking, I hope I can remember all the knowledge that is being thrown at me. Sadly, I can't. But I will try and share as much as I can remember.
We first met at the forwarding company for some snacks and a welcome drink. Not long after some speeches, we were the 10th tour in so many years, we were loading on to the bus. Next, the bus driver came around asking to see our IDs. This was a highly stressed point in the invitation -- a valid ID was needed because of security reasons in the Freihafen. I was embarassed, but I brought my passport. I didn't feel like flaunting my blue passport, but I wasn't sure which other types of ID might be accepted. Just as long as I got to go! You may have already guessed that, yes, one person did forget her ID. It was really a shame. She is actually a prominently known woman in Hamburg because she founded a wonderful charity and she was even one of the people who gave a small speech back at the warehouse. Rules are rules. She got off the bus and they didn't reach their goal of finally having a tour where someone didn't get to participate.
Despite some rain, we started the bus tour, with commentary. It was great having Linda with me because not only is she a shipping expert, but she has also been on the tour before. So she was able to really enrich the info from our guide. And she also made sure that I was understanding everything.
Seriously, I've never been so excited about containers before.
Our first stop was the Hafen Museum Hamburg (Harbor Museum). They just ended their season and I can confirm why. It's freezing in there! We split up in three groups and all received very random yet interesting tours and information. We saw a twist lock up close, four of which are manually fastened to each container locking it to the next container. Our guide also said that up to 8,000 containers can fit on a ship. Linda and I seemed hesitant to believe this, but after some math, and another guide's confirmation, we now know it's true. That's a lot of containers. We also learned that you're better off not having goods in the top row of containers because those are sometimes released in times of turbulent water or if there is any kind of issue. Like cutting off a finger to save a hand?
Our stop was much too short and soon we were running back to the bus and trying to stay dry. Now it was time to take the big bridge over the Freihafen. It's basically its own little city. And a beautiful one at that. At first, I thought it was a shame that it was dark because we couldn't see as much, but in actuality, the lights were breathtaking. I never really thought of the shipping industry as beautiful, but it is. It's smart and beautiful in fact.
Shipping is the cheapest stretch of any transport. In fact, more than half of the costs are often racked up after goods are off the water. Hamburg ranks 14th as world's busiest ports. Although, Hamburg was often in the top 10 and has shown steady and continuous growth. The top 10 spots all now held by Asia aside from Dubai coming in at #9.
Somewhere around 30,000 people work directly in the Hamburg harbor with 150,000 people involved over all. It's a lot of people. In Hamburg, they saw 8.86 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2012. And seeing how big it is, I can hardly imagine the size of the #1 harbor -- Shanghai saw 32.53 million TEUs.
It was also interesting to me that, Hamburg is where many goods come if they will travel the rest of the way by train -- to Prague for example. Rostock and Bremen/Bremerhafen aren't built for the rails the way Hamburg is.
I had a geek-out moment when I actually got to see 20-foot and 40-foot containers side by side and really understand what types of containers we are actually putting our books into.
Another fascination point for me, or maybe a realization, is how "English" the shipping language is. Despite hearing our tour in German, it felt like every third word was in English. We talked about Containers and Spreaders and Bridges (oh my!).
Our next stop was Duckdalben -- an international seamen's club. This opened my eyes to something I never really though about. The men (yes, it really is mostly men) manning the container ships! These guys spend weeks upon weeks on the water and away from their families. Duckdalben is a facility that acts as a home away from home. It's not a place for sleeping, but it's stocked with fun things that aren't available on a possibly turblent ships. Things like ping pong and billiards. Plus, rows and rows of computers and telephones where they can purchase cheap credit to contact loved ones at home. There is also a room of prayer and a fridge stocked with goodies. I even noticed a cat running around!
Now I understand what our guide meant when he said it's nice for the seamen to also see some new faces. Linda and I tried to say hi and share smiles with as many as we could :) I'm so glad something like this is available for the workers. While on the ship, with an average of 20 men, the workers work in four-hour shifts and sleep for eight. It's not work I would be interested but I'm glad some people are. We also took this time to snack on some sandwiches that were provided for us. I ate two.
Once we were back on the bus, it was time for the real highlight of the trip. As the tour is officially named, we came "eye to eye with the giants". The average person doesn't usually have the opportunity to see a container ship let alone catch a glimpse just feet away. Talk about gigantic. This is when I truly believed that 8,000+ containers can indeed fit on a ship.
We didn't get to leave the bus and we couldn't take pictures, but I couldn't stop taking it all in. It's one of those things that is nearly impossible to describe because there's an indescribable feeling that comes with watching these big machines at work.
There were men driving spreaders around -- the drivers seated in a glass box at least two stories off the ground. There were 8 million Euro bridges in the process of unloading a ship. They were fast and efficient. It takes 12 hours to unload an entire ship. We also were able to witness some very advanced technology in unmanned carts that were driven using a grid system. By the way, when you see how many containers are at the harbor, you really understand why efficiency and planning is important. All of the containers are tracked and placed according to when they are next needed. As the containers are stacked on top of one another, it would be a waste of time to have to pull up a container to get to one below. It's a legitimate game of Tetris. You would think with "robots" controlling the grid that there might be fewer jobs for human, but, as in other industries, it actually increases the amount of job available for thinking-humans. Like I said, amazing.
We made our way back to our starting point and were offered another drink. Linda and I were pretty exhausted after such a long day, we also had a day-long meeting at the office, so we said our thank yous and made our way home.
I am nearly positive I have left out a fabulous part of the tour, but hopefully you will get the idea. The shipping industry is truly fascinating! Who knew? Also, I really hope my facts and figures are mostly correct. Please feel free to correct me or conduct your own further research :)
Apologies that the photos are mostly taken through a rainy bus window.
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| Don't close | Men inside |
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| Spreaders |
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| Colorful containers |
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| So close. |
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| REALLY CLOSE. |
I love German rules! ... no ID. Great for you to experience such a highlight that is so unique to that city. I enjoyed reading that blog. thanks.
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