The agreeement follows a MoU on sustainable steel suply chains signed by the parties in August this year.

This picture shows the contract signing on board HGK Shipping’s FRANZ HANIEL 14. L to R: Florian Bleikamp, Head of Chartering Canal/Rhine, HGK Dry Shipping GmbH; Steffen Schreiterer, Head of Procurement Logistics, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH; Tim Gödde, Managing Director Ship Management, HGK Ship Management Lux S.à r.l; Fabian Gerdes, Head of Customer Logistics, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH; Steffen Bauer, CEO, HGK Shipping GmbH; Andreas Lemme, Managing Director, HGK Dry Shipping GmbH; Uwe Wedig, Chairman of the Board/CEO of HGK Group; Henning Hirschfeld, Head of Legal, HGK Shipping GmbH; Eike Brünger, Managing Director Sales and Logistics/Member of Managing Board, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH 

The Duisburg-based shipping company, part of Hafen-und Gutenverkehr Köln, thereby become the preferred partner for the inland waterway shipping operations of Salzgitter Flachstahl. In return, the latter will use this development to secure itself access to transport capacity and is underlining its clear commitment to inland waterways.

One element in this partnership involves the new construction of a dry goods vessel and it will be directly designed to meet the product dimensions and requirements of the Salzgitter Group and cope with the western German canal region. 

The agreement follow a MoU signed in August this year by HGK Shipping and two subsidiaries of Salzgitter AG (SZAG) – Salzgitter Flachstahl and DEUMU-Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union. Salzgitter Flachstahl will coordinate and manage the operations of the three time-charter vessels from HGK Shipping’s existing fleet within SZAG.

They are being made available to the company with immediate effect and will be used for alternating services between the Salzgitter business sites and its customers in the Netherlands and Belgium, transporting raw and input materials for steel manufacturing, such as scrap steel. As a result, HGK Shipping is assuming an important role in the circular economy and the circular supply chains of SZAG and its customers.

The fleet that will be used is due to be replaced by new shipping capacity in the medium term. HGK Shipping will place the order for the first new vessel, which will probably go into service in July 2025, in the very near future.