lubricant special edition of maritime
TRANSCRIPT
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www.maritime-ceo.com
Challengesand Solutions
Lubricants Special
In association with:
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provides cost
efficient lubrication solutions and
expert technical services to the
shipping industry.
For worldwide and 24/7 high
performance marine lubricantsdeliveries contact our global team:
JUST TELL USWHERE AND WHEN
MARINE LUBRICANTS
UNIMARINE
www.unimarine-lubricants.com
Visit us at Hall A2,Booth 219 at SMM
in Hamburg
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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 1
Contents
2 Challenges
5 LNG as a fuel
6 Te world of UniMarine
8 Unique lube player
10 Solutions
12 Hamburg
INTRODUCTION
A fter insurance and crew pay,
it is lubricants that rank as
the third most expensive
item on the daily operating costs of
a ship for an owner. As this maga-zine shows, lubricants can count
for up to 17% of a vessel ’s outlay.
What ’s more there has never been
a more bewildering choice of lubes,
reflecting the hugely changing envi-
ronmental scene that shipping faces
going forward.
What Maritime CEO has set
out to do, in association with lube
specialist UniMarine, is to identify
challenges and solutions facing
shipowners when selecting a marine
lubricant. o do this in depth wecontacted around 100 shipowners
and managers to assess what bothers
them with today’s lube industry and
then we mapped out how to solve
many of these problems.
On top of that, there’s a look at
various interconnected topics such
as LNG as a fuel and scrubbers, and
since Maritime CEO and UniMarine
wil l be both be present at SMM this
September we have thrown in a
useful travel guide to Hamburg onthe back page. We hope you find this
magazine of value.
Sam Chambers
Editor
Maritime
Vital time to learnmore about marinelubricants sector
An ASM publication
Editorial Director:Sam [email protected]
Associate Edi tors: Jason [email protected]
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maritime2
CHALLENGES
I
t is fair to say that the selection of
lubricants onboard ship has never
been more tricky or scrutinised.
Since the market crash of 2008cost cutting has been uppermost
in ship operators’ minds, desperate
to stay afloat in what have been
intensely tricky financial times. After
insurance and crew costs, lubes
make up the third highest cost in
the daily running of a ship, typical ly
accounting for 10% on average, but
occasionally running as high as 17%
of costs. However, price is not the
most important aspect shipowners
and operators look for when select-ing a lube supplier, according to a
wide-ranging survey carried out by
Maritime CEO for this magazine.
In compiling the magazine,
Maritime CEO sent out a survey to
around 100 shipowners and manag-
ers on key lube issues. Price, while
important, for sure, only ranked num-
ber three in the selection criteria.
Michael Moschonas, chief
technical officer with Greece’s Almi
ankers, lists product quality and
suitability, the reputation of thesupplier, technical support and ser-
vices, worldwide availability of all
grades, before mentioning price.
On the issue of price a fleet man-
ager in the tanker sector based in
Singapore tells Maritime CEO : “Some
might say rebates based on volume,
but I would prefer a good upfront
price with no accounting games.”
Ian Claxton, managing director
of Tailand’s Toresen & Co, says
quality product with no contamina-tion, a guaranteed delivery period
without delays to vessel or offhire and
strong after sales support such as lab-
oratory testing, training on use and
handling, product news and regula-
tory information updates, all go a long
way when selecting a lube supplier.
Meanwhile, the purchasing
manager of one of the world’s largest
containerlines has another thing
he is looking out for when choosing
a lubricant company. “Since some
new regulations are coming in, we
are looking whether their products
are recommended by the equip-ment maker,” he says from the firm’s
European headquarters.
Quite so, agrees Kishore
Rajvanshy, managing director at
Hong Kong’s Fleet Management.
In the last year there has been
a change in rules for engine design
which requires a change in the grade
of lubricating oil, Rajvanshy explains.
Tis is specific to new electronic
engines where there is a requirement
for BN 100 for cylinder lubrication.“Te stock and availability
for this grade is not there in many
There’s plenty that owners and managers willdemand when choosing a lube supplier
More than just price
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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 3
normal ports of lif ting and in other
ports it is a much bigger challenge,”
he says, adding: “For the VGP com-
pliance, the availability for the stern
tube lubrication which wil l match
the stern tube seal maker require-ment is also a challenge. Approvals
for major brands are pending.”
Global availability
Rajvanshy, as with almost all
respondents, touches on the issue of
global availability, something that
clearly vexes a huge percentage of
shipowners and managers.
“We want a supplier who works
with us to achieve the best physicalasset protection, security of supply
and competitive costs for supply
operations,” says Mark Haslett, direc-
tor of procurement at Wallem Ship
Management.
“Te greatest chal lenge the
industry is facing is actually being
able to supply the correct grades that
the ships need, at the ports where
they need the oil,” says Haslett. A
number of the majors are focused
on big ships in big ports so there canbe a limited choice of suppliers for
smaller vessels such as bulk carr iers
trading routes with smaller ports, he
adds.
Wallem takes care to set up
appropriate contracts for each vessel
and owner. Tus the Hong Kong-
based manager can select a supplier
with suitable geographical coverage,
unlike large volume aggregators
which simply attach each new ship
to a contract which prioritisesthe headline grabbing ports of
Rotterdam and Singapore.●
“ Te greatest challenge the industry is facing isactually being able to supply the correct grades thatthe ships need, at the ports where they need the oil’ ”
CHALLENGES
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maritime4
CHALLENGES
How well are you technically supported
and informed on new lube products
such as biolubes, high BN cylinder oil
or ultra-low sulphur cylinder oil?
Manufacturers will advise and push
new products that comply with any
new regulations via many communi-
cation channels, reckons Ian Claxton,
managing director of Tai shipowner,
Toresen & Co.
Nevertheless, the introduction ofboth biolubes and especially BN 100
cylinder oil was not handled par-
ticularly well by the industry, argues
Mark Haslett, director of procure-
ment at Wallem Ship Management.
Te VGP deadline in December 2013
was known well in advance.
When an engine maker stipulated
the use of BN 100 cylinder oil for a
whole range of engines - effectively
changing the recommendation away
from grades that had been previouslyapproved to use - oil companies began
to respond with products.
echnical support is becoming
increasingly critical for seagoing
engineers to ensure that the feed
rates are optimised for the benefit of
the engine and costs.
How well supported do you feel at ship-
yards in terms of lubricants?
Supply to shipyards is usually okay,
most of our respondents reckoned,
but it can be at a high cost i f it isfor a newbuild. Repair yards do not
appear to be an issue.
Te procurement boss for a
leading European containerline had
this to say on the matter.
“Now regarding the newbuilding
yard, there are too many third parties
especially which make the final
delivery very complicated and often
in stupid packaging. Under contract
the LO delivery is FAS or FOB, but for
newbuilds, you have to take care ofthe yard clearance, help them to get
the custom clearance and the process
may vary from a city to another; in
short it is pretty messy.”
For newbuildings a useful piece
of advice Maritime CEO picked up is
to put the minimum onboard in the
yard and take the maximum at the
first bunker port. Te cost can be
25-40% cheaper depending on the
shipyard location.
Do you feel you are technically well
supported by onboard and ashore lube
engineer visits?
As long as the lubes are not purchased
like a commodity, the operator tends
to get good technical support, most of
our respondents said.
One fleet manager in the tanker
sector in Singapore moaned that lubesuppliers do not seem to visit in the
same way that, say, chemical suppli-
ers do. Nevertheless, when it comes
to onshore, lab testing and analysis of
issues is first class, he adds.
One liner respondent says his
company never gets visits and feels
that his ships are better supported
by engine makers regarding lube oil
than the lube suppliers themselves.
“Te interest of the lube oil maker
is that you spend more on oil, ourinterest is to decrease the feed rate
hence we will not listen to their advice
and more follow the engine maker
recommendation with whom we may
have a warranty,” he points out.
Regarding lube oil analysis,
there appears to be mixed messages
coming from the majors, says another
liner executive whereby owners
might get an alert on a particular
item from one company while a rival
maintains the same product is fine.
“What is your level of confidencein the analysis made by the lube oil
maker,” he questions, “as its inter-
est is for you to replace the lubes
onboard.” ●
“ Te introductionof both biolubes andespecially BN 100
cylinder oil was not
handled particularly wellby the industry ”
Maritime CEO surveyed close to 100 ownersand managers in compiling this magazine.Below are some of their thoughts
Understanding the
industry’s concerns
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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 5
little while back James
Ashworth, lead consult-
ant with Singapore-based
oil and gas consultancy, ri-Zen
International, told Maritime CEO that
shipping is going through a seismic
shift in its adoption of LNG as a fuel.
Not mincing his words, he stated,
“We are witnessing the greatest
change in shipping since Winston
Churchill advocated the move fromcoal, a UK plentiful strategic reserve,
to imported oil for the Royal Navy.”
Arguably the beginning of this
July may well have been the moment
when the overplayed ‘chicken and egg’
discussion about LNG as a fuel came
to an end. On July 2, Japanese line
NYK ordered the world’s first LNG
bunkering vessel.
In a joint initiative to develop a
global market for the LNG bunkering
business, NYK concluded a frame- work agreement with France’s GDF
Suez and Mitsubishi Corporation to
distribute LNG in Europe.
Te vessel will be delivered in
2016, and will be based at the port
of Zeebrugge. Te vessel will deliver
LNG to LNG-fuelled vessels operating
mainly in the North Sea and the Baltic
Sea. Going forward, the joint venture
is looking to roll out similar vessels
across the globe.
In Northern Europe, about 50
LNG-fuelled vessels — most of which
are ferries, cruiseships, and
offshore related vessels —
are already in operation.
o support the increas-
ing number of LNG-fuelled vessels
in operation, the challenge is to
develop and improve the supply
infrastructure. Despiter NYK’s com-
mendable start much more needs to
be done in this department, says Erik
Lewenhaupt, a senior executive withSweden’s Stena.
“Te world fleet is large and in
many segments it will not be eco-
nomically feasible to convert vessels
to other propulsions,” he maintains,
adding: “It will therefore take a con-
siderable time before we see changes
away from fuel oil propulsion in larger
numbers.”
However, on the longer term
Stena believes LNG together with
methanol has a large potential to bebig marine fuels.
“Te challenge with LNG,” says
Lewenhaupt, “is the infrastructure
and the pricing where we need to see
investments in shore tanks, terminals
and bunker vessels on a large scale to
make this an accessible alternative
worldwide as well as more compet-
itive pricing which is linked to the
market price of LNG and not bunker
oil to compensate for the substantial
handling and investment costs for
shipowners.”
As these
factors are still uncertain Stena is also
running a parallel track with metha-
nol which is equally environmentally
friendly - but easier to handle as a
marine fuel. Stena will in 2015, asa world first, convert a large ropax
ferry, Stena Germanica, to methanol
propulsion.
One tanker manager in Singapore
questions whether there is critical
mass yet for this huge fuel switch.
“Do you build bunker vessels for LNG
to supply non-existent ships, or do
you build ships and hope that bunker
suppliers will set up shop,” he muses,
suggesting that dual fuel is likely to be
the answer for the next 20 years.Meanwhile, Toresen boss,
Ian Claxton, will be holding off any
LNG investments for the time being.
“Initial expense, space lost to fuel
storage, safety and, of course, the reli-
ance on the current cost differential
between LNG and bunker oil to pay
for the additional cost of equipment
not being reliable 10 years ahead, all
contribute towards this technology
being a non-affordable luxur y for
the average dry bulk operator at this
time,” he says.Bureau Veritas has recently
published a comprehensive set of
guidelines on LNG bunkering. BV’s
technical director, Jean-Francois
Segretain says, “Fears over [LNG’s]
availability in the bunker chain are
holding back owners from adopting
it. Part of the issue is that ports and
terminals wishing to provide LNG as
bunkers and shipowners wishing to
have LNG-powered ships do not have
agreed international standard bunker procedures to work to.” All this will
change soon.●
Lots of hot airInevitable? A way off? The debate rages on
A
CHALLENGESLNG AS FUEL
Ethane first This July Ocean Yield, an Oslo-based shipowner, placed orders for three eth-ylene gas carriers of 36,000 cu m capacity to be built at Sinopacic Offshore& Engineering in China. Each will be powered by a single MAN B&W ME-GIlow-speed, dual-fuel engine. The engines will run on ethane, which ethylenecarriers are also equipped to transport, and represents the rst time ethane hasbeen used as fuel to propel an oceangoing vessel.
MAN Diesel & Turbo said ethane was chosen as fuel, in preferenceto HFO, due to its more competitive pricing as well as the signicantly
shorter bunkering time it entails. As a fuel, its emissions prole is alsosuperior to HFO, the engine maker said.
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maritime6
Globally on callWith more than 850 ports coveredright across the world UniMarine canguarantee lube solutions to any ship,anywhere, any time.
MAP
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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 7
REGULAR
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UNIMARINE
s this magazine serves to
show, selecting the right
lubricant has rarely been
more challenging and confusing for
shipowners. At a time when the lube
sector is contracting, not just in
size but also in the range of services
offered it takes someone new, brave
and innovative to find the necessarysolutions and to tailor make them
to individual shipowner require-
ments. UniMarine was founded last
year, yet its heritage stretches a long
way back as a member of Denmark’s
United Shipping & rading (USC),
a global group of companies serving
the marine market since 1876 and a
global leader in marine bunkering.
As a shipowner and opera-
tor USC controls a f leet of large,
modern, chemical and productstankers and has a global footprint
covering shipping, point-to-point
logistics, supply of bunker fuels and
marine lubricants. USC realized the
lubricant market was in need of a new
direction and seized its opportunity
with the creation of UniMarine.
Singapore-headquarteredUniMarine has drawn together a
global network (see pages 6 and 7)
covering more than 850 supplied
ports in a remarkably short amount
of time. Arguably more important
has been UniMarine’s remarkable
recruitment of many of the world’s
top experts in marine lubricants. In
every major port UniMarine has gen-
uine lube solution providers in place
to assist shipowners with whatever
their needs are.
With a lube veteran, CarolineHuot, at the helm, UniMarine has
been quick to listen to owners’ needs
and concerns and to address them in
a transparent manner, shaking up the
sector in a dramatic way. UniMarine’s
commitment to tailor make lube
solutions is very much positioning the
company as a boutique brand, albeit
one that is able to offer very competi-
tive prices.
“If we study the marine lubri-
cants market today versus 10 yearsago,” says Huot, “most of the major
suppliers have limited their services
in many ways.” She lists availability
of products, geographical coverage,24/7 customer service and technical
support. “his has paved the way for
the entry of both physical suppliers
and original solutions suppliers like
UniMarine. I believe the marine
lubricants market may well be more
atomized in the years to come and
that the picture we shall see in 2020
onwards will be rather different
from the one we used to know
some years ago.”
he shipping
industry has cometo expect close
cooperation
between
engine
Expertise everywhereThe shipping industry has been crying out for a more responsivelubricants company. One has emerged
A
“ Most of the majorsuppliers have limitedtheir services in manyways ”
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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 9
UNIMARINE
manufacturers and oil suppliers in
order to be sure that new engine
designs are matched with the proper
lubricant at the right time and in all
the needed locations, Huot says.
In the past there was an obvious
understanding of the cyclical nature
of shipping so that support in tough
times was implicit as was sharing
some of the benefits during growth
periods. Right now such understand-
ing has somewhat disappeared,
Huot reckons: the marine lubricants
market has become more split up and
less cooperative than it was before,
when objectives and interests of
suppliers were much more aligned
with OEM requirements and owners’requirements.
“At UniMarine,” Huot stresses,
“we have united shipping and lubrica-
tion passionate experts cooperating
with reliable suppliers and partners to
form a team dedicated to supplying
fleets with tailor made lubrication
solutions globally answering all your
needs without compromise, 365 days
a year and 24/7.
“We believe that success in the
coming years depends on meaningful
partnerships, transparency in opera-
tions and a firm commitment to the
values and philosophy that underlie
our shipping community.”UniMarine’s unique network
of suppliers worldwide is designed
to offer owners high performance
products and technical support based
on the concept of ‘regional supply’ in
order to offer what is best where it is
the best.
UniMarine understands that
smooth operations imply servic-
ing the needs of both onboard and
onshore teams in a timely manner
with the best combination of high
performance products meeting all the
technical requirements of the engine
and auxiliary equipment manufac-
turers, expert customer services andhigh performance used oil analysis
services.●
“ Te marine lubricants market has become moresplit up and less cooperative”
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maritime10
O wners have both short- and
long-term concerns when it
comes to lubricants: everyone wants to see support from the lube
suppliers in term of cost efficiency in
order to help the vessels OPEX budg-
ets. Practically that means efforts
on the product cost itself but as well
improvements in terms of port avail-
ability. For instance, if bulk supply is
available when needed the owner can
save the drum cost, if extra charges
are minimized assuming that marine
lubricants service should be 24/7 as
are vessels operations, that is alsohelping.
Te reduction in availability
is a concern for everyone, says
UniMarine boss, Caroline Huot,
and it is not just in terms of grades
around the world, but also there are
less and less brands.
“No one is making an effort to
supply any more,” she says.
With Singapore offering the
cheapest lubes one piece of simply
advice from Huot is for owners
to take on big quantities there,
organized well in advance. It is then
vital for owners to work with their
suppliers to get a better average pricearound the world.
“Te right information will get
you a better price,” she says.
In the old times there was an
obvious understanding of the cyclical
nature of shipping by the lube sup-
pliers so that support in tough times
was implicit as was sharing some of
the benefits during growth periods.
Right now, Huot reckons, such under-
standing has somewhat disappeared
with each party pursuing very oftenits own interests.
In the long term, owners expect
a very close cooperation between
OEMs and lube oil suppliers in order
to be sure that new engine designs
are matched with the proper product
and at the right time.
“Tere is an expertise gap in this
business,” Huot says, explaining that
new generations of marine engineers
do not focus anymore on marine
lubricants as a career downstream in
the oil industry is the less attractive
sector compared to upstream.
“Tere is a whole generationmissing,” Huot says. Fur thermore,
lubrication education is a tiny part in
the courses of maritime universities
and there is less and less coopera-
tion between oil suppliers in general
and maritime institutions. “At
UniMarine we intend to renew these
cooperation activities and resume
lubrication courses, practical courses
- testing, interpretation of analysis,
as well scholarships for promising
cadets interested to learn more on
lubrication,” Huot asserts.
Navigating regulatoryand technical changesShipping faces great challenges with a raft of new lawscoming in. However, answers are to hand
SOLUTIONS
UNIMARINE PROVIDES IS marine
clients with a 24/7 contact both via
phone and email recognising that ves-
sels operations cannot be delayed due
to time difference.
Says Wani Ariappan,
UniMarine’s customer service
manager, “A BlackBerry is an indis- pensable tool in this role and we
always carry them with us, being
ready to reply to customers’ inquir-
ies at any time of the day and of the
night and to liaise permanently with
the physical supplier in charge of the
physical delivery. We are also closely
working in liaison with our other
customer services worldwide which
allow following up inquiries round
the clock, hence providing a real 24/7,
non-stop service to our clients.“After many years in the business
I have created strong relationships
with physical suppliers, majors and
customers, which have become like abig family.”●
Standby help
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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 11
ECAs
Various new emission control areas
that come into place in 2015 raise
a lot of issues pertaining to the
availability of fuels geographically
- and therefore of fuel management
when tramping in various areas of
the world - and of the right lubricants
when burning ultra-low sulphur fuel.
A new generation of cylinder oil is
needed to cope with the particularchallenges of an extra low sulphur
percentage and lube suppliers
research and development need to
anticipate the new operating condi-
tions carefully.
A look at the ongoing contro-
versy on which cyl inder oil to use for
super long stroke engines and when
slow steaming and it becomes clear
owners would benefit from a closer
cooperation with the OEMs on this
as well. Another regulatory constraint
closer to us is the USA Vessel General
Permit (VGP) – EPA rules which
wil l apply from December onwards:
owners need to be prepared and
understand the need of checking
the OEMs approvals of the biolubes
range they select as well as their real
in-ports and shipyards availability
well before in order to make sure not
to have any surprise when starting to
use such ranges. Again, in a marine
lubricants market where more and
more suppliers keep appearing,
those committed to providing proper
advice to shipping shall be of high
value.
If we study the mar ine lubri-
cants market today versus 10 years
ago, most of the major suppliers have
limited their services in many ways
(availability of products, geographi-
cal coverage, 24/7 customer serv ice,
technical support) hence paving the
way for the entry of both physical
suppliers and original solutions sup-
pliers l ike UniMarine.
“I believe the mar ine lubricants
market may well be more atomizedin the years to come and that the
picture we sha ll see in 2020 onwards
wil l be rather different from the one
we used to know some years ago,”
Huot says.
Fighting cold corrosion
UniMarine has launched a unique
piston underside oil a nalysis
program, Cyl inder Scrape-Down
Oil Analysis (CSDOA), to deal withmarine main engine cylinder liners
cold corrosion problem, something
that has been execrated by the
advent of slow steaming.
UniMarine’s CSDOA is a
laboratory-based technical service,
monitoring parameters of piston
underside oil. Te CSDOA not only
is able to identify cold corrosion of
cylinder walls and provides early
warning the engineer to be on the
alert for cold corrosion, but also ben-
efits other main engine related areas
such as optimisation of cylinder oil
feed rate.
Lab testing
Giving owners peace of mind by pro-
viding equipment to verify what they
are buying is correct and working
properly is something vital in today’s
hard-pressed shipping market.
UniMarine has developed what it
calls LubeSafe Minilab which offers a
variety of serv ices.
WIH HE JA NUARY 1, 2015
deadline fast approaching and a
number of Emissions Control Areas
(ECAs) setting tough new sulphur
limitations, scrubbers are very much
in the spotlight. Tis gas-abatement
technology has been used for many
years across shore-based industries,
however the application of the tech-
nology is still relatively novel to themaritime industry.
Tere are two main types of
scrubber systems: ‘wet’ and ‘dry’.
Although it is true that shore-based
industries widely use dry systems,
wetsystems are more common within
the maritime sector.
A wet scrubber system uses
seawateror freshwater with the
addition of chemicals to ‘wash’ the
harmful components from exhaust
gases. Forthe majority of owners, sea
waterscrubbers will be the option of
choice.Tese systems use a chem-ical process known as wet flue gas
desulphurisation (FGD) whereby flue
gases containing SO2, an acid, come
into contact with sea water. Te sea
water, an alkaline, acts as a bufferand dissolves the sulphur oxides.●
A KEY A ID to help reduce an owner’s
lube bill is to get an expert from
a supplier onboard ship. Sadly, in
these days of perennial cost cutting
fewer and fewer ship visits take
place. UniMarine is committed to
help all its customers with visits to
their ships.
Tomas o, UniMarine’s senior
technical manager, says owners
want visits onboard to fix problems
that might be missed otherwise.
“Engineering staff onboard are
not familiar with machinery lubri-cation in general,” he says, noting
how often they lack knowledge in
lubricants, are not clear about OEM
lubrication requirements and tend to
rely on used oil analysis for address-
ing lubrication problems rather than
their own experience.●
Heading onboard
Scrubbers
“ No one is makingan effort to supply anymore
”
SOLUTIONS
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maritime12
HAMBURG
t a loose end in Hamburg?Germany’s second largest
city and “Gateway to the
World” won’t disappoint.
A visit to Hamburg must begin
at the old harbour area on the
Elbe River, the city’s heart since
the 12th century, and a perfect
area to discover on foot. Start at
St Michaelis Church, where you
can climb the tower for a fabulous
birds-eye view of the city. Ten stroll
to the Landungsbrücken (“landingbridges”), from where a boat cruise
wil l give you a real sense of what
Hamburg is all about – ships, docks,
and the sea (about an hour; English
tours available, so ask).
Walk along the waterfront on the
Elbpromenade, dotted with souvenir
stores, boutiques, and restaurants.
Make sure to try Hamburg’s very
own Fischbrötchen (fish sandwich),
available from snack bars along the
way. Te permanently moored Cap
San Diego cargo ship, now a museum,is worth a look. And if you happen to
be in the neighbourhood early on a
Sunday morning (4.30am - 9.30am)
don’t miss the Fischmarkt – a truly
fabulous open-air market, since 1703.
Great crowds, atmosphere, views
and music, not to mention boisterous
hawkers, will more than compensate
for the early start.
Continue your walk to the
HafenCity, Hamburg’s redevel-
oped maritime quarter, nowadaysa glittering showcase of ware-
house conversions, cutting-edge
architecture (like the HamburgCruise Centre, built out of 40 sea con-
tainers), theatres and museums (the
International Mar itime Museum is
the best of the bunch).
Although stealing the show here
is Miniature Wonderland, the world’s
largest model railway. No, it’s not just
for kids, and no, I am not kidding.
With over 12,000 m of track, 890
model trains, and 200,000 human
figurines, you will be blown away
by the sheer scale and detail of it all, whatever your a ge.
Done with the sea? Head north
into Hamburg’s Altstadt (Old own),
to the imposing sandstone Rathaus
(city hall), and the lovely open public
square that surrounds it. A short
tour of the sumptuous interior halls
wil l be well worth the effort.
From here you can simply wan-
der aimlessly, through narrow streets
lined with grand buildings, which
speak to Hamburg’s wealth as a trad-
ing city. If you’re feeling peckish, now would be the time for Franzbrötchen,
a pastry that looks a bit like a crois-
sant, with a cinnamon and sugar
filling – seriously addictive, and
unique to Hamburg. Here you will
also find the city’s best shopping –
whether in one of the plush indoor
shopping arcades, or on the main
shopping drag of the Jungfernstieg.
But you can’t escape the water
for long in Hamburg. Stretching into
the city’s north are the Alsters – twolarge, artificial inland lakes, sur-
rounded by luscious green parks and
crisscrossed by walking trails, so youcan stroll here for hours, read a book
under a tree, or even sunbathe on
the grass (in winter, when the lakes
freeze over, you can sometimes ice-
skate). For a really special experience
though, hop on a preserved steam-
boat for a romantic putter across the
waters. By law all lake-facing bui ld-
ings in Hamburg must be painted
white and their roofs covered with
copper, so the views are beautiful,
especially as the sun sets.Ten, once darkness falls, head
to the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s
notorious and slightly seedy red-light
district, in the city’s west. People
either love it or hate it here, but these
days it’s as much a tourist attraction
as anything else, with restaurants,
theatres, musicals, live shows and
good-old people watching on offer
(for those not so interested in the
world’s oldest profession).
So there you have it – Hamburg
in a day (or two or three) – a wonder-ful mix of the old and the new; the
land and the sea; great architecture
and natural beauty. All steeped in
the centuries-old maritime culture of
one of Europe’s busiest ports.
Oh, and by the way, in case
you’re wondering: yes, the hamburger
can indeed trace its origins to this
city. Apparently migrants from
Hamburg to North America brought
with them their beloved Frikadel le, a
ground-beef patty mixed with onion,spices and egg, pan-fried. Te rest, as
they say, is history.●
Beyond the exhibition floor
For those attending this year’s SMM, there’s plenty to enjoy in the grandcity of Hamburg
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