HHLA, battery-electric and green-powered operations at Container Terminal Altenwerder
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) built Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) in the Port of Hamburg in 2002 as a greenfield project (HHLA, n.d.a). It is a highly automated container terminal that now runs its main handling equipment on electricity from renewable sources. HHLA aims to cut its CO2 emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 and to reach climate-neutral production by 2040 (HHLA, n.d.b). By the end of 2025, HHLA had cut its Scope 1 and market-based Scope 2 emissions by 44.7 percent against a 2018 baseline (HHLA, n.d.b). CTA shows how electric equipment, green power and automation can together cut direct emissions at a busy terminal.
Approach
Battery-electric automated vehicles. A fleet of around 80 fully automated, battery-powered vehicles (AGVs) moves containers between the quay and the yard. HHLA converted the whole AGV fleet to battery-electric propulsion. The AGVs charge at fixed charging stations using green electricity (HHLA, n.d.a).
Electric cranes on green power. All 14 quayside container gantry cranes, the 52 gantry cranes in the block storage area and the four rail gantry cranes run on green electricity (HHLA, n.d.b).
Renewable electricity supply. HHLA states that CTA operates using 100 percent renewable electricity (HHLA, n.d.a). In 2025, renewable sources supplied 100 percent of HHLA's electricity in Germany and 73.1 percent across the group (HHLA, n.d.b).
Automated yard and gates. The yard has 26 storage blocks, each served by two rail-mounted gantry cranes. Gates use Optical Character Recognition to identify all containers arriving by truck and rail (HHLA, n.d.a).
On-terminal rail. The Kombi-Transeuropa Terminal Hamburg is the rail terminal at CTA. It has nine 720-meter tracks for full-length freight trains and handles about 740,000 TEU a year (HHLA, n.d.a).
Results
HHLA reports that converting the AGV fleet to battery-electric propulsion saves around three million liters of diesel a year, equal to about 8,000 tonnes of CO2 (HHLA, n.d.a); the page does not state the year or method of this estimate. At group level, Scope 1 and market-based Scope 2 emissions were 44.7 percent below 2018 levels by the end of 2025 (HHLA, n.d.b).
Transferability
DMC ports planning new or expanded terminals can specify battery-electric horizontal transport and electric cranes from the start, with charging points and grid connections planned at the design stage. Terminals already in operation can convert diesel fleets in stages, as HHLA did with its automated vehicles. The emission benefit depends on the power supply, so ports should pair electrification with renewable electricity and track diesel saved and Scope 1 and 2 emissions against a fixed baseline. Full automation needs high up-front investment and skills, so smaller ports can adopt electric equipment first and automation later.
Sources
All information used for this case study was based on publicly available resources.