Strong together: AVG Stade consortium delivers on time

Stade, 20/02/2024 – After a construction period of just 330 days, Niedersachsen Ports (NPorts) handed over the jetty for liquefied gases in Stade (AVG Stade) to the operator Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) on 16 December 2023. Construction only began in January of last year. This means, as NPorts explained in a press release, that Germany’s currently largest port structure on the water side has been completed “within the agreed and tight schedule” to the point where it “can be used by the future operators.”

After the LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven, the AVG Stade is already the second port facility along the coast of Lower Saxony that Niedersachsen Ports has put into operation in a very short space of time to support Germany’s gas supply.

The contract for the construction was awarded in October 2022 to a consortium consisting of DEPENBROCK Ingenieurwasserbau GmbH Hamburg (DEPENBROCK Group, Stemwede), TAGU Tiefbau GmbH Unterweser Oldenburg (Ludwig Freytag Group, Oldenburg) and Nordsee Nassbagger- und Tiefbau GmbH Bremen (a member of the DEME Group of Antwerp, Belgium).

With a total volume of more than 260 million euros, the project is one of the largest port construction projects in Germany in recent years. DEPENBROCK was responsible for the technical management of the project and TAGU handled the commercial management. Both partners were also jointly responsible for the engineering part of the work, while Nordsee carried out the dredging work on water and on land.

Erik Depenbrock, Commercial Director of DEPENBROCK Ingenieurwasserbau GmbH & Co. KG, comments on the handover of the new port for handling liquefied gases: “We are very proud to have made another record-breaking contribution to Germany’s energy supply after the first liquefied natural gas terminal in 2022. However, the quality and speed of the jetty are not just down to us, but the result of close cooperation with our partners, Tiefbau GmbH Unterweser from Oldenburg and Nordsee Nassbagger- und Tiefbau GmbH from Bremen. Other decisive factors included the extraordinary commitment of all the contractors and the close cooperation with the client, planners and authorities. For a structure as complex as this one, the new German speed that Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of at the opening of the first LNG terminal in 2022 would not have been possible without a team effort.”

Udo Mählmann, Head of National Port Construction at TAGU, comments: “The good cooperation within the consortium as well as with the partners and the client were crucial for the on-time completion. The employees can be justifiably proud of the tremendous job they have done on the construction site.”

Lutz Dröge, Managing Director of Nordsee Nassbagger und Tiefbau GmbH, adds: “Our involvement in the realization of the AVG jetty in Stade is fully in line with DEME’s global commitment to sustainability and climate neutrality. Whether in the construction and operation of offshore wind power plants in Europe, Taiwan or the USA, the production of green hydrogen in the Port of Duqm (Oman) or the unloading of alternative gases here in Stade – we are wholeheartedly committed to advancing the much-needed energy transformation. And if we can do this with such strong, reliable and cooperative partners as we have here, nothing stands in the way of a successful outcome.”