With the Port of Hamburg in the news for performing the best of Europe’s top five container shipping ports this peak season in productivity and handling capacity, it is worthwhile reflecting on the Hanseatic city’s secrets of success. Germany’s second largest city does certain things right.
So right, in fact, that this harbor town is poised to become one of the dominant business hubs of Europe. Here are five factors that are contributing to Hamburg’s current business success.
1) Hamburg innovates
The Hamburg Metropolitan Region boasts the greatest number of entrepreneurs per capita, according to a study by German government-owned bank KfW. For the first time, the city has edged out Berlin as the number one city where businesses are started.
2) Hamburg’s universities and colleges promote digital disruption
Hamburg is home to the only private university solely dedicated to logistics, Kühne Logistics University, which is also alma mater to several of our FreightHub team members. The institution recently announced an interdisciplinary Digital Transformation partnership with three top institutions: Bucerius Law School (BLS), the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), and the Institute for the World Economy (IfW). “The institutional partnership will create interfaces between the fields of law, economics, IT, and logistics. Together, we can drive ideas and projects forward,” they state.
But the KLU is not the only academic institution focussing on digital disruption: The Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA) has launched a “digital toolbox” and seminars for digital founders, directors, techies, experts and newcomers, alongside students and former students. “By targeting all those in our increasingly digitalised society, we have come up with an attractive mix that lends its support to new perspectives and ways of thinking,” explains Dr. Uve Samuels, Managing Director of HSBA. The school opened the HSBA Digital Innovation LAB (DI-LAB) where new ideas in 3D printing, big data, AI, virtual reality, and robotics are supported and tested out. The HSBA will offer a seminar called “Intrapreneur” – which focuses on lean start-ups and agile management as well as “Digital Strategy” which covers ways in which entrepreneurship can thrive in digitalised surroundings.
3) Hamburg leverages itself as Northern Europe’s top logistics location
The fact that Hamburg is a harbor town makes it “a hub for global trade and a gateway to the Far East”. Almost 160,000 people are employed in the Port of Hamburg. Hamburg handled 6.8 million TEU in the first nine months of 2017, a rise of 0.4 percent compared with the same period in 2016. The maritime industry is of increasing importance to Germany and the EU. Hamburg is also a key player in rail services. Ideally connected to Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Hamburg is Europe’s largest rail port. The port handles 200 goods trains with over 5,000 railcars daily. Relying upon its “cutting-edge, high-performance handling facilities,” yearly container throughput at the Container Rail Terminal has grown by 20 percent to 769,000 TEU in 2015. More than 611,000 TEU was moved through Hamburg in the third quarter of this year, a “ record figure for railborne container transport”.
Hamburg is home to 550 companies from China, 100 from Japan, and 50 from Taiwan giving Hamburg a special Asian competence. Also, companies from Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, and the US base their European operations in Hamburg.
FreightHub opened its first branch in Hamburg in May and is now offering a complete set of freight modes between Europe and Asia as well as Amazon FBA Shipments to the US for digital booking. Digital and logistic expertise combined with close ties with leading carriers, customs authorities and transport insurers help make for smooth transactions between Hamburg and the rest of the world.
4) In Hamburg, mainstay mixes with the new
Established players with headquarters and facilities in Hamburg include Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Beiersdorf, Unilever, Hamburger Hochbahn AG, Hapag-Lloyd AG and Delta-Sport Handelskontor GmbH. These mainstay companies form part of the strong business network in Hamburg alongside new startups like Sponsoo, Europe’s biggest marketplace for sports sponsoring or Floatility, an e-mobility company that sells electric scooters. According to “Top 13 Startups from Hamburg You Need to Know About in 2017,” Germany’s second largest city is fast becoming a center of Northern European innovation in its own right. In fact, Hamburg has seen the founding of over 400 new startups just in the past three years.”
5) Hamburg cares
Hamburg has the oldest Chamber of Commerce in Germany (founded in 1665) which prides itself on helping its 150,000 member businesses in political, legal or financial matters. Its mission is to work for its members and “the success of their businesses”. Likewise, Hamburg’s businesses share a mentality to take care of their customer needs as fully as possible. At FreightHub, customer service is highly valued. Each customer has a personal contact (one of 75 staff based in Berlin and Hamburg) responsible for their shipments. Exceptions and special situations are handled proactively. New freight forwarding features are based on what customers are asking for – such as US-bound Amazon FBA assistance or instant quotes on shipping for EU to Asia (either Port to Port or Door to Port).
Reach out to our Hamburg office today! Activate your account today, see how we can help your business grow.
