When Bjarne Mathiesen lifts his eyes from his desk, he has a view of most of the business for which he is managing director. The Port of Aarhus: The largest container terminal in Denmark, the second largest in Scandinavia. A port experiencing growth, a port with a future. The port is only two years into an extension plan which will run for the next 25 years, and cost approximately 2.3 billion Danish kroner. So far, the planned container terminal and a new logistics and distribution centre have already been completed. Bjarne Mathiesen took over as port director on 1 June 2000 following the retirement of Kaj Schmidt.

However, Bjarne Mathiesen was certainly not a new and inexperienced man for the job. Since 1995, he had been involved in the planning of the port extension and had a seat on the port extension steering committee. At that time, he was employed with the consulting firm Rambøll which functioned as the port’s consultants within environmental assessments.

The project involves developing new port areas and phasing out others, as well as urban development. There is pressure for the city to be extended down to the existing waterfront which is why we have chosen an outward extension, among other things by reclaiming existing water areas, says Bjarne Mathiesen.

It is probably only a small number of inhabitants in Aarhus who see the Port of Aarhus as the business it actually is: A business with 118 employees who, among other things, man the port’s two tugboats, the pilot boat and the 20 cranes – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The port handles 10 million tonnes of cargo annually, including 400,000 containers. The seven container cranes rank among the most efficient in Europe; on average, each crane moves thirty-five 40-foot containers per hour.

This means that the seven cranes are capable of moving 15,435 cubic metres per hour. Or, in other words, the cranes can fill Aarhus’ new, large office block, the Prism, with containers in just 90 minutes. The Port of Aarhus is, however, more than one single enterprise. It also consists of 150 other businesses operating in or near the port. The Port of Aarhus is a business dynamo creating the basis for and strengthening the prospects for growth and development.

Historically, the port has always served as a dynamo for the development of trade in Aarhus and Eastern Jutland, says Bjarne Mathiesen. We must strengthen and consolidate this position. The Port of Aarhus is and must remain Denmark’s number one container port. We must ensure that there is a Danish alternative to the large container ports in Northern Germany. Our mission is to help provide our customers with efficient and reliable sea transportation at the right price.