Together with HGK Shipping, the Salzgitter Group wants to intensify the cooperation between the two companies and promote and expand sustainable logistics concepts on the waterway in the future. Two subsidiaries of Salzgitter AG (Salzgitter Flachstahl and DEUMU Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union) and Europe's largest inland shipping company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Salzgitter on August 10th.
Sustainable supply chains
The overarching goal of the collaboration is to further develop and establish low-emission logistics chains. The focus is on establishing and expanding paired traffic, i.e. H. the generation of return cargo in order to avoid empty journeys and the optimized utilization of the available ship space. In this cooperation, the intelligent combination and planning of transport is particularly useful. While Salzgitter Flachstahl specializes in the production of flat steel products for vehicle and tube manufacturers and the construction industry, DEUMU is active in the recycling and trading of steel scrap, metals, and alloys.
“The Salzgitter Group has set itself the strategic goal of being a leader in the circular economy. A central component will be the use of steel scrap to produce crude steel. This also includes the sustainable logistics of this important secondary raw material. We want to further expand the waterway transport route. This can only succeed with strong partners,” says Sandrina Sieverdingbeck, Managing Director of DEUMU.
In their sustainability efforts, both Salzgitter companies want to increasingly rely on the use of inland shipping in their logistics chains. Salzgitter AG companies are connected to the waterway system at numerous locations, so that over a million tons of steel and steel precursors are already transported by inland waterway vessels on Europe's waterways every year. This proportion can be further increased if the right conditions are created.
“We will also increasingly establish sustainable solutions such as inland shipping in the supply and logistics chains. This sometimes receives little consideration in public discussion and perception when it comes to the topic of traffic transition and relieving road congestion. “Inland waterway shipping is already one of the most sustainable modes of transport and is fundamental for the steel industry and offers short and medium-term potential for increasing transport volume,” explains Fabian Gerdes, Head of Customer Logistics SZFG.
“SEAFAR” project
Digitalization also plays a major role in this context. The cooperation partners agree to take part in the SEAFAR pilot project to test semi-autonomous inland shipping in Germany with their transports as soon as this is approved by the responsible authorities. For this purpose, dry cargo ships that HGK Shipping uses to and from Salzgitter will be retrofitted with the appropriate technology for remote control from land.
In the medium term, the close cooperation should also contribute to the development of new and additional shipping space that equally meets the requirements of innovative and sustainable inland shipping and the steel industry's needs for decarbonization and security of supply. The signing of the MoU is now the starting signal for further projects.
“The collaboration with the Salzgitter Group confirms to us that the need for sustainable solutions on the waterway system continues unabated. Sustainable solutions that meet the requirements of climate protection, economic efficiency and security of supply can only be created if we tackle the challenges together – industry and logistics hand in hand,” emphasizes Florian Bleikamp, Head of Chartering Canal at HGK Dry Shipping GmbH.
