Difficult conditions due to low water levels
In 2018, the water levels on the Danube and Rhine fell to record lows, meaning that the volume of goods handled by ship at the six bayernhafen locations fell by 21.2% to 2.518 million tons in 2018. This was largely offset by an increase in rail handling. "Extreme situations such as low water levels affect us, of course, but they don't throw us off course," says bayernhafen Managing Director Joachim Zimmermann, "The same applies when a freight segment is weak. Because our business model is robust - multimodal in the linking of modes of transport, diverse in the customer structure as well as in the goods structure. This robust business model proves its worth even and especially in years with difficult framework conditions."

26 million euros for rail and water
bayernhafen's investments in 2018 were used to prepare areas for settlement and to improve the water and rail infrastructure. At bayernhafen Bamberg, for example, an inclined bank was converted into a vertical bank, thereby optimizing transshipment to inland waterway vessels. The crane fleet was also modernized. At bayernhafen Passau, the loading tracks on the quay were extended from just under 600 to 880 meters, the interim storage capacity in silos was increased fivefold and a new mobile harbour crane was installed, which is equipped for handling heavy cargo weighing up to 120 tons.

Also being expanded: the data infrastructure - the fiber optic networks at the bayernhafen sites in Regensburg and Nuremberg now achieve data transmission speeds of up to 1 Gbit/sec. "With our investments, we are making our infrastructure even more efficient," says Joachim Zimmermann, "For our customers, efficiency means reliability, predictability and cost-effectiveness - decisive factors for the use of the two more environmentally friendly modes of transport, inland waterway and rail."

Integrative moment: between barge, rail and truck
The investments in the infrastructure of the Bayernhafen sites attracted further companies in 2018. For example, RAIL.ONE opened its plant for the production of concrete sleepers for long-distance and local rail transport at bayernhafen Aschaffenburg in April last year. In January 2019, the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a 16,000 m² logistics facility by real estate group Goodman, intended for logistics service provider Kühne + Nagel, took place at bayernhafen Regensburg.

"We are experts in linking the modes of transport inland waterway, rail and truck," says Joachim Zimmermann, "the overriding goal is the fair division of labor between the modes of transport - because the modal shift can only succeed if the modes of transport are used according to their strengths. At the same time, we see ourselves as an integrative moment between industrial, specialist trade and service companies at our locations and in the surrounding economic regions."