HARBOUR  Rostock-Hanko

The overall objective of the European Maritime Space (EMS) project is the future-oriented preparation of the ports of Hanko (Finland) and Rostock (Germany) and the connecting cross-border short sea shipping link according to transport forecasts and market requirements.

Highly needed and market-requested new port infrastructure will be provided and existing rail terminal infrastructure will be adusted to better interconnect the maritime link with the national hinterland transport networks. Furthermore, the works will enable the deployment and efficient handling of significantly larger and highly sustainable ro-ro-vessels (Finnlines’ FinnEco Class) to improve the link’s environmental performance.

By re-constructing outdated berth infrastructure and enhancing the gate area in the port of Hanko as well as providing high-quality pre-stowage areas and extending the rail tracks of the multimodal terminal in the port of Rostock, the infrastructure managers upgrade the maritime link and improve the ports’ operational performance as well as provide requested capacities for multimodal transports. For this, in total 29.6 million EUR will be invested between 2025 and 2027.

Both port infrastructure managers in Hanko and Rostock will jointly implement the following infrastructure works in the project’s framework:

• Adaptation of basic port infrastructure in the port of Hanko according to the specifications of large and highly sustainable ro-ro-vessels by reconstructing outdated berth infrastructure including necessary capital dredging at the berth
• Improvement of the port traffic flow in the port of Hanko by reconfiguring and extending its gate area to eliminate congestion and to speed up the check-in of freight units including digital solutions to check and weigh multimodal freight units for more maritime transport safety
• Improvement of and provision of new port handling capacity in the port of Rostock required to efficiently handle larger multimodal freight volumes by creating new pre-stowage areas to increase its operational performance and limit intra-port transport operations
• Expansion of multimodal transport and handling capacities in the port of Rostock by extension of rail tracks in the port’s existing multimodal terminal for a train length of 680m to efficiently handle such long trains to/from the port’s hinterland

(Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.)