A historic year promises even greater prospects for the future

2024 was a historic year for Port Esbjerg. Our revenue and profit were at all-time highs. But that is not really what makes me a happy port CEO. It is the prospects that fill me with joy.

• This spring we finished deepening the fairway to 12.5 metres. This means that we can now accept calls from much larger vessels, ranging from the ever-larger wind vessels to ships from the NATO alliance and RoRo vessels. I believe that the deeper fairway will help to double the volume of cargo over the next ten years.
• We completed the extension of the rail freight terminal, leading to increased rail transport from all over Europe, and we expect the volume to increase further.
• We expanded the port area by more than 575,000 square metres or more than eighty football fields, corresponding to just over ten per cent of our area.
• We handled 5,800 vessel calls and 12,000 more cars than the year before.
• We increased the occupancy rate of our warehouse and shipping areas and acted as a base for two major German offshore wind projects.
• We began the construction of Denmark’s first CO2 terminal for storage in the North Sea, which is expected to generate additional activity at the port in the coming years.
• We lived up to our role as a NATO port on several occasions, helping to create the framework for European security across production and use of the port. And everyone expects that role will only increase.

For these reasons, 2024 was a historic year.

Port Esbjerg has become a hub – for green energy, international logistics and European security.

Geopolitical uncertainty, threats of a tariff war and a world in flux have spread to global trade, affecting us at Port Esbjerg as well. But even against the backdrop of unstable geopolitical conditions, we managed to grow our business. That is why I stand before you as a proud and optimistic CEO.

As our chairman, Søren Gade, pointed out at the Annual Meeting, we are just over fifty employees at Port Esbjerg. The real growth does not come from us, but from the companies at the port that use the setting we provide. I would like to thank them for being great partners and for seizing the opportunities.

Port Esbjerg is a hub for international logistics in collaboration with the companies at the port.

However, this is no time for complacency. Because with the strong demand for the capacity and flexibility we offer, we need to invest further in the port for the benefit of our customers. So that is what we are doing. The years to come have even greater promise than the historic year of 2024.

You can read more about the key figures from our Annual Report in this newsletter together with a report from the Annual Meeting here.