The Japan Times WORLD EYE REPORTS HAMBURG AND SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
©THE JAPAN TIMES	Friday, March 29, 2002

Centuries-old trading hub sets a foundation for the future

The city-state of Hamburg is Germany's oldest commercial center. Today, it is the country's most important foreign trade hub. Hamburg's trade links with Scandinavia and Eastern and Central Europe are 800 years old. The first English and French trade links were set up in the 16th century, followed by the Dutch and the Spanish in the early 17th century. Merchants from Hamburg were traveling as far as Japan, China, and Indonesia by the 19th century. Built upon such strong traditions, the city of Hamburg has grown into Northern Europe's premier business center.

Hamburg has outlived and outclassed several cities as a bustling trading center.

With such a long history of trade, it is no wonder that some of the world's oldest institutions were founded - and are still operating - in Hamburg. Hamburg is home to Germany's first stock exchange, which opened in 1588. This was joined by what was to be the world's oldest private bank -- Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co -- in 1590. The Hamburger Feurkasse, the world's first insurance company, was established in 1676.

Hamburg is home to almost 170 financial institutions, including 39 foreign banks with a total of 678 branches within the region. Hermes Kretiversicherungs was the world's first credit insurance company, and is now among the world's largest. Th company insures retailers all over the globe, and is now making headway in the Japanese market.

Another local institution, Berenberg Bank, caters to high net worth clients all over the world, refusing to sell its operations to bigger multinational banks. Berenberg is one of the most trusted financial institutions for the world's elite.

With a firm financial base, and aided by the highest per capita income in Germany, Hamburg is ready to expand. The most ambitious part of the city's current expansion plans is the 25-year Hafen City project. Hailed as Central Europe's biggest project, the 155 hectare Hafen City site will increase the city's living and office space by 40 percent. It iwill be a five-minute walk from the town center, feature 5,500 housing units, 1.5 million square meters of floor space, and services and enterprises scheduled to employ 20,000 people. Hamburg has become Germany's media capital, with 9,500 media companies. The projected Media City Port development, dubbed a "media city under one roof," is expected to fit right in.

Hiroshi Sakurai, Japan's consul to Hamburg

Media is Hamburg's third largest industry by turnover and its fourth biggest employer. Companies such as Axel Springer, which produces Europe's biggest publication by turnover -- Bild -- as well as Germany's most international newspaper -- Die Welt -- make their home in Hamburg. Gruner + Jahr, another of Germany's publication giants, is also based here.

In addition to projects on the ground, Hamburg has also taken to the skies. Hamburg is the world's third most important commercial aviation center. Airbus Germany, formerly called Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace, is the center of assembly for fuselage sections, interior fittings, and paintwork for most of the Airbus line. With a third assembly line on the way, the company is gearing up to work on the largest civil aviation project in history -- the enormous Airbus A380 that is scheduled for delivery in 2006.

Hamburg is also home to the world's largest aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul company, Lufthansa Technik. Now a completely separate entity from Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik services more than 300 of the world's leading airlines. The company has also become the world leader in customizing jumbo jets for private use. All of these facilities are situated near Hamburg Airport, Germany's fourth largest and the most profitable in the country.

Claus G. Budelman, managing partner of Berenberg Bank

Some of the world's biggest names have set up their European headquarters in and around the Greater Hamburg area. Top-ranked Japanese brands such as Casio, Citizen, Panasonic, Sharp, and Olympus serve Europe from the Hamburg area. Because of the city's free port environment, Japanese and other multinational companies enjoy import and export freedoms all over the continent, as well as access to the growing Eastern European and Baltic markets. Many shipping companies, including the world's largest, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, as well as MOL (formerly Mitsui OSK Lines) have set up regional offices in Hamburg. They benefit perhaps the most from Hamburg's magnificent port. The Port of Hamburg is the second largest in Europe, and is the fastest-growing port in Northern Europe.

In the first half of 2001, the port increased cargo handling by 10.8 percent from the same period in 2000, despite a worldwide downturn during the year. It is the only Northern European port (a group which includes Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Bremen) that achieved double digit growth in the first half of 2001.

Headed by Dr Juergen Sorgenfrei, the port offers easy access for incoming ships and easy connections to roads. It also boasts the best transshipment infrastructure of any port in Northern Europe.

Hamburg is Europe's biggest rail container handling center, where cargo can go from ship to rail anywhere in the continent quickly and efficiently. There is over 4,000 km of truck freight-bearing roads, as well as 2,400 bridges for additional cargo transport. The Port of Hamburg also acts as a transshipment port for the Baltic ports of Luebeck and Kiel, which give it indirect access to 50 million consumers in the Baltic region.

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