Specialist Terminology

Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV)

Fully automatic, driverless transport vehicle that carries containers back and forth between the on the quayside and the yard at the HHLA Container Altenwerder.

Block Storage

Automated block storage is used at the HHLA Container Terminals Altenwerder and Burchardkai to stack containers in a compact and efficient manner. These facilities consist of multiple storage blocks. are used to transport and stow the boxes.

ConRo-Schiff

A ship that can transport containers as well as .

Container Gantry Crane

A crane system used to load and discharge container ships. To handle ever-larger ships, the new container gantry cranes are also significantly bigger in terms of the height and length of their jibs.

Feeder / Feeder Ship

Vessels that carry smaller numbers of containers to ports. Feeders are used to transport boxes from Hamburg to the Baltic region, for instance.

Hinterland

Describes a port’s catchment area.

Hub Terminal (Hinterland)

A Terminal which bundles and distributes consignments as a handling hub. HHLA’s rail companies operate like this in Ceska Trebova, Dunajska Streda, Poznan and Prague.

Intermodal / Intermodal Systems

Transportation via several modes of transport (water, rail, road) combining the specific advantages of the respective carriers.

North Range

North European coast where in the broadest sense all large continental ports from Le Havre to Hamburg are situated. Among the four largest ports are Hamburg, Bremen ports, Rotterdam and Antwerp.

RMG – Rail-Mounted Gantry Crane

Crane units spanning their working area like a gantry, often operating on rails, hence the abbreviation RMG. If used in Block Storage, they are also called storage cranes, and in rail cargo handling they are called rail gantry cranes.

RoRo

Short for “roll on, roll off”, RoRo is a means of loading cargo which can simply be rolled or driven onto or off a ship.

Shuttle Train

A train which travels back and forth on one route with the same arrangement of wagons, eliminating the need for time-consuming shunting. HHLA’s rail subsidiaries operate between the seaports and the Hub ().

Spreader

Weighing several tonnes, the is the part of a Container Gantry Crane or other crane used to grip and then lift or lower containers.

Standard Container

See:

Straddle Carrier

A long-legged vehicle used to transport containers at the terminals. The driver manoeuvres their into position above a container and lifts it up. The vehicles can stack containers up to four high.

Tandem Gantry Crane

A highly efficient capable of discharging or loading two 40-foot containers or four 20-foot containers in a single movement. HHLA uses at the Container Terminal Burchardkai.

Terminal

In maritime logistics, a terminal is a facility where freight transported by various modes of transport is handled.

TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit)

A TEU is a 20-foot , used as a unit for measuring container volumes. A 20-foot standard container is 6.06 metres long, 2.44 metres wide and 2.59 metres high.

Traction

The action of a locomotive pulling a train.

Transport Performance

Performance indicator in rail traffic, which results from the product of the transported cargo volume and total distance travelled.

Ultra Large Vessel (ULV)

A mega-ship which is at least 330 metres long and/or 45 metres wide. This type of vessel is increasingly being used on routes between the Far East and Northern Europe in particular.