On 4 and 5 of April a high-level business delegation from Germany led by Melanie Leonhard, Hamburg’s State Minister for Economic Affairs, visited Estonia. The guests visited the HHLA TK Estonia container terminal and learned about its digital initiatives.
Valdo Kalm, chairman of the board of the Port of Tallinn, welcomed the business delegation in the main building of Muuga port. HHLA TK Estonia and Fernride, which is testing autonomous transport in the terminal, focused on future digital solutions. During the subsequent tour, the guests were familiarized with the container terminal and appreciated a live presentation of Fernride transport solutions.
Riia Sillave, CEO at HHLA TK Estonia, added: “Our terminal is a dynamic hub, driving innovation and digitalisation as an enabler of scalable solutions. We're committed to providing seamless connectivity with Rail Baltica in the future and exceptional services already today to support local as well as North-South cargo flows.”
The 50-member delegation included, among others, the heads of Philips, Beiersdorf, Airbus Operations and Lufthansa Industry Solutions, as well as of the ports of Hamburg and Lübeck and the Hamburg Centre for Artificial Intelligence.
Led by Hamburg’s State Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr. Melanie Leonhard, pointed out that Estonia, with its good business environment, educated employees and great flexibility, offers excellent opportunities for innovation cooperation.
“The Baltic states are a global logistics centre, a region with a strong tradition of industry and development, and Hamburg offers them access to all of Germany and to global markets.” Leonhard emphasized that the current security situation affects trade throughout Europe and that Hamburg responds to it with an updated concept of foreign trade, wishing to strengthen the existing good relations: “Estonia and other Baltic countries will become even more important for us in the future, and this visit is a good opportunity to promote Hamburg’s business relations in this region.”
“Over five million people live in the Hamburg region – it is a market comparable in size to Finland and one of the most prosperous, productive, and technologically advanced regions in all of Europe. Cutting-edge solutions for the maritime industry and logistics, along with green technologies such as hydrogen and wind are just a few examples. This important visit with meetings and smaller cooperation projects has been prepared for nearly four years and will bring to Estonia more companies and organizations with an important role in the economy of Northern Germany than ever before,” said Riina Leminsky, the economic representative of the joint organization of EAS and KredEx in Hamburg.
The visit was organized in cooperation with the joint organization of EAS and KredEx, the German Embassy in Tallinn, the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia LIAA.
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