Hamburg opens PortOne industrial development site

Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has opened the marketing process for PortOne, a major industrial land redevelopment at Steinwerder Süd within the Port of Hamburg. The project will make 23.1 hectares available for future businesses operating in maritime industries, manufacturing, logistics, energy, and related activities.

The development forms part of a wider 26.4-hectare site being prepared on the former Hansa and Roß terminal areas. HPA is seeking companies with a direct connection to port operations and a long-term interest in the location, with commercial property adviser JLL supporting the process of identifying and assessing potential occupiers.

Businesses can submit their development concepts until mid-2027. HPA will then shortlist suitable proposals and select the future users, with handover of the prepared land currently planned for 2030. No occupier has yet been selected, and the authority has not announced a completed lease or confirmed private development programme.

The marketed area may be allocated to a single large organisation or divided between several complementary businesses. Individual plots of at least five hectares are available, allowing applicants to propose different forms of industrial development within the overall site.

HPA will retain ownership of the land, providing access through leases or hereditary building rights rather than selling the property outright. The arrangements are intended to support long-term investment while maintaining public ownership of the underlying port estate.

PortOne is situated within Hamburg’s established Steinwerder port district, where maritime facilities and industrial land are connected to the wider transport network. HPA identifies road, rail, and waterway access as important characteristics of the location, particularly for businesses whose operations depend on moving goods between different transport modes.

Those connections create opportunities for port-related logistics and manufacturing activities, although the final infrastructure available to each occupier will depend on the development concept selected. A warehouse handling containerised goods may require different road access and loading arrangements from a business receiving raw materials by rail or transferring industrial products through maritime facilities.

The potential for several forms of industrial use is central to the marketing programme. HPA is inviting proposals from maritime businesses, energy transition industries, circular economy operators, manufacturers, and logistics companies with a connection to the port.

These sectors represent eligible fields of activity rather than committed projects. The announcement does not establish that a particular energy storage installation, recycling operation, warehouse, or production plant will be built on the land. The specific facilities will be determined through the selection and subsequent development processes.

Before new occupiers can establish operations, substantial work is required to prepare the former terminal area. The redevelopment involves removing sections of the Roßhöft and Oderhöft headlands, filling part of the Oderhafen basin, and bringing the resulting land together into a continuous site suitable for industrial development.

The existing layout includes land and water areas associated with the former port infrastructure. Removing the headland sections and reclaiming the intervening area will create a larger uninterrupted surface, allowing future buildings and transport routes to be arranged without the same physical divisions.

ReGe Hamburg, which is providing technical project management and representing the project owner during the preparation works, identifies approximately 1.2 million cubic metres of material to be removed from the headlands. The reclamation and raising of the site will require around 2.3 million cubic metres of sand.

These quantities illustrate the scale of work required before the location can accommodate new industrial facilities. Removing and placing material must be coordinated with ground preparation, the eventual shape of the site, and the requirements of future construction. The land preparation programme is separate from the development of buildings that may subsequently be commissioned by occupiers.

Flood protection is another part of the engineering programme. The site is being raised from approximately 5.5 metres to 7.7 metres above Germany’s Normalhöhennull elevation reference. The change is intended to establish a more suitable ground level for future uses within the port environment.

The final elevation affects the relationship between future buildings, access routes, surrounding infrastructure, and the water level conditions applicable to the site. It does not establish that individual industrial facilities have already been designed or that their final drainage and utility arrangements have been determined.

The underlying redevelopment received its final planning approval in November 2024, with physical preparation beginning in February 2025. ReGe Hamburg expects the site preparation works to be completed towards the end of 2029, ahead of HPA’s planned handover to the selected occupier or occupiers in 2030.

This timetable provides a distinction between the present marketing stage and the future availability of the land. Companies can propose their intended operations while the engineering works continue, but the preparation of the site must progress before the eventual occupiers can begin their own development programmes.

The availability of large connected industrial plots within an established port district is a central feature of PortOne. Such sites must accommodate buildings and operational space alongside vehicle routes, materials handling areas, utilities, and the physical separation required between different activities.

A single large operator could propose a coordinated layout across much of the marketed land. Alternatively, several businesses might share the wider location while occupying separate plots, requiring suitable access and utility arrangements for each operation. HPA has left both possibilities open until it assesses the proposals received.

The authority intends to consider the applicants’ connection with the port economy, their ability to use the location’s transport infrastructure, and their contribution to employment and the port’s longer-term development. These are selection considerations, not measured outcomes from businesses already established at PortOne.

JLL’s role is to support the marketing and occupier search, helping HPA identify companies whose requirements align with the land available and the site’s planned infrastructure. The authority will retain responsibility for the selection process and the eventual allocation of the property.

The redevelopment is part of Hamburg’s effort to adapt existing port land for changing industrial requirements. Reconfiguring former terminal infrastructure allows the authority to create larger usable development plots within the established port estate rather than relying solely on new sites outside the existing maritime industrial area.

The current phase will establish which businesses are interested in the land and how they propose to use it. Applications remain open until mid-2027, while the physical works are expected to continue through 2029. HPA plans to hand over the prepared site in 2030, subject to the completion of the redevelopment and the conclusion of its occupier selection arrangements.