Port of Oldenburg
The Port of Oldenburg is a combined inland and seaport on the Hunte River in Oldenburg (Oldb), Lower Saxony.
Geography and connections
The Port of Oldenburg is located on the Hunte River east of the city centre and the old city harbour. It is connected to the North Sea, some 93 km (50 nm) away, via the tide-dependent Hunte and Weser rivers and is located slightly east of the coastal canal that begins here. This canal runs alongside the canalised Hunte through the city and separates from it slightly below the Oldenburg lock, which is about 1.5 km away. The port is located in the centre of the Weser-Ems economic area.
The city is connected to the motorway system via the BAB 28 (Leer, East Frisia, to the BAB 1 motorway junction at Stuhr) and BAB 29 (Wilhelmshaven to the BAB 1 Ahlhorner Heide).
In terms of rail transport, Oldenburg is a junction for the Bremen–Oldenburg, Oldenburg–Leer, Wilhelmshaven–Oldenburg and Oldenburg–Osnabrück railway lines.
History
As early as the 13th century, traders settled on the banks of the lower Hunte. In 1345, the market town of Oldenburg was granted town rights under Bremen law, giving it access to maritime trade. Thanks to the support of Count Anton I in the 17th century, Oldenburg developed into a successful maritime shipping location. Until the 19th century, the port was the leading inland port in the region; fish from Norway, Denmark and Iceland, wine from France and timber from Norway were imported here and transhipped for onward transport inland.
At the end of the 19th century, the Hunte was straightened and expanded. This allowed larger ships to call at the port. At the same time, the railway sidings were expanded. The railway bridge over the Hunte, initially built as a swing bridge at the end of the 1860s, received special attention because its construction and operation were not allowed to interfere with shipping traffic. In 1909, the capacity of the berths in Oldenburg harbour on the north bank of the Hunte was expanded.
The completion of the coastal canal in 1935 provided a connection across the Lower Ems to the Ruhr area. During the Second World War, Oldenburg and its harbour were spared major destruction. In 1965, a new quay was built on the south bank of the Hunte. The actual relocation of transhipment activities from the old city harbour to the banks of the Hunte a little further downstream took place systematically in the 1980s. From 2002 to 2008, the Lower Hunte and the city section of the coastal canal were expanded. In the process, the Hunte was further straightened and bottlenecks were eliminated.
In 2016, port operations on Rheinstraße near the city centre were discontinued and relocated to the port area on Dalbenstraße and in the eastern harbour. According to urban development plans, the site on Rheinstraße is available for residential construction. In 2017, work began on the construction of a new turning point just below the railway bridge, allowing seagoing vessels up to 110 m in length to call at Oldenburg. The turning point was put into operation in 2021. In 2019, a new landing stage for passenger ships was built in the city harbour.
After the railway bridge over the Hunte near Elsfleth was destroyed in February 2024 by a ship collision and the temporary bridge that was set up is not movable, the port of Oldenburg is expected to be cut off from maritime shipping for several years.
WikipediaWebsite:https://www.hafen-oldenburg.de/
