As Münden went to bed the old River Weser transfer point awoke.
Late on Tuesday, in the night before the re-opening (see report
below), Kassel's light artist Oliver Bienkowski (26) immersed the
freight ship Paloma in brilliant blue light and also shot white
bundles of light into the dark sky. A magical performance was
created with lasers and light canons. Bienkowski was working on
behalf of the mechanical engineering company Richter, which
integrated the video of the action in a modern company
presentation. He has already staged spectacular laser shows and
building illuminations in numerous towns and cities, for example
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
(asc) Photo: HNA-Mündener Allgemeine
Hooked: Two cranes heave and lift up the 166 tonne cast iron part - that is the weight of four Leopard tanks. There it is loaded onto the truck on the B80 trunk road. Photos: Krischmann
Richter transferred its first cargo from the ship at the
River Weser transfer point.
B Y H E L M U
T K R I S C H M A N N
HANN. MÜNDEN. At 11.37 hrs precisely, the Weser
transfer point's great hour arrived. The ship's horn of the Paloma
freighter sounded. This was the starting shot for the loading of a
166 tonne cast part intended for the construction of a forging
press. Destination: Richter Maschinenbau AG in Hess. Lichtenau. The
producer of heavy machine parts, which operates worldwide, had
rejuvenated the old Weser port with its investment of 250 000
euros. The last transport barge had stopped there at the beginning
of the 1970s.
While guests from politics and industry steer towards the middle
of the river on board the MS Europa to experience the event right
next to the action, the two crances belonging to Breuer & Wasel
of Bergheim near Köln heaved up the cast part. Very gently. Two
cranes in action. It had to be two cranes explained a crane company
employee. One alone wouldn't have managed to heave the colossus
made in England over the 17 metre high wall. Above the transfer
point, on the hard shoulder of the B80 trunk road, a heavy goods
truck belonging to Max Goll in Düsseldorf waits for the load. The
cranes have got the part hung on their hook and turn their jobs
towards the quay wall. Centimetre for centimetre the load rises.
Just before twelve o'clock it is done; the grey painted machine
part is suspended above the railing. Two specialists of the crane
form give the two crane operators instructions over the radio. The
part slowly lowers onto the over 30 metre long trailer. The precise
positioning is then another feat in itself. The first attempt is
unsuccessful, one side is still too wobbly. But the heavy cargo
sits right on the second attempt. Further transports will follow
assured Axel Richter, head of the company with 200 employees. The
entrepreneur emphasised that transporting heavy machine parts by
waterway is logistically an absolute necessity for Richter:
"Nothing is moving by road anymore". Axel Richter praised the town
council of Hann. Münden as well as the water and shipping office
(WSA) in Hann. Münden for their fast, unbureaucratic help. Within a
few weeks the building permit for renewing the transfer point had
been processed and issued. The WSA also pushed the project forward.
A good step for the future said Mayor Klaus Burhenne, the rebirth
of the old Weser port is important for Münden. It is a good step
for the future. He encouraged entrepreneurs to follow the example
of Richter and to talk to Jörg Hartung of the business development
agency about transport by ship. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Trade
and Industry has pledged a grant for the town said Burhenne. The
Land is ready to help the town to repair the transfer point.
Mayor
Klaus Burhenne briefly outlined the history of the transfer point:
It was built in 1905 and by the 1930s its tonnage had risen from 90
000 tonnes to 220 000 tonnes. The ships transported bulk goods, for
example potassium to Bremerhaven. At the beginning of the 1970s,
inland waterway shipping stopped. Sappers of the Bundeswehr were
still using the transfer point in the 1980s and 1990s.