Duisburg Gateway Terminal opens as Europe’s largest inland logistics hub
DUISBURG : The terminal will play a key role in Germany’s energy transition, using digital systems and innovative green technologies such as hydrogen engines and photovoltaics.
On Monday, the official opening of the Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT) took place on the former coal island. The first construction phase has now been completed and the DGT is officially up and running. Once completed, the DGT will be the largest inland terminal in Europe, as well as the tenth container terminal in the Port of Duisburg.
“Where coal was handled for more than 100 years, there is now a climate-neutral container terminal. The Duisport Gateway Terminal is an outstanding example of successful structural change in the Ruhr region: the implementation from the initial idea to completion in just a few years shows that we in North Rhine-Westphalia are setting the pace,“ said Hendrik Wüst, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Duisburg Gateway Terminal is setting new standards in productivity and closeness to the market: 730 meters of rail track, fully digital processes and a central location in the heart of Europe are the key factors for the success of intermodal traffic.
In many respects, the Duisburg Gateway Terminal is a model project for the future of logistics: All goods movements on the site, which is the size of 33 football pitches, are digitally controlled. The enerPort II project plays a key role in this. The project is a partnership between industry and academia and will be responsible for the complete energy conversion of the terminal. The key components are a photovoltaic system, fuel cell systems and hydrogen engines for the generation of electricity as well as a battery storage system.
„Duisburg will play an increasingly central role in the German energy transition in the future. This can already be seen here at the harbour: Where millions of tonnes of coal used to be handled, the Duisburg Gateway Terminal is making a pioneering contribution to CO2 reduction,“ commented Lord Mayor Sören Link.