INA8

Bremen

Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven - no town could have a more distinctively maritime atmosphere! Here's its visiting card:

Germany's biggest North Sea coastal town, Europe's most important fishing port, member of the exclusive club of the world's leading container ports, shipbuilding location with an international reputation and, as a rendezvous for the world's most beautiful luxury liners and passenger ships, Germany's number one amongst the cruise ship ports of the world.

wind-jammer in Bremerhaven Bremerhaven has all the magic of a maritime experience, the breathtaking diversity of a great international seaport that lives on the water and earns its money there, as an international trading centre, a hub for the worldwide flow of commodities and as an unbeatable destination for all those who dream of a holiday beside and on the sea. All these facets are united in a town that is characterised by the wide open skies of the North, the eternal rhythm of the tides and by the watercourses that form its vital maritime lines of communication.

But Bremerhaven is more: it is also part of the state of the "Free Hanseatic City of Bremen", Germany's only two-city state consisting of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. Two cities, one state, which, however, are not united geographically. A distance of 60 kilometres lies between the two cities. This is the result of a history that began just 170 years ago for Bremerhaven. In 1827, Bremen founded the new town as an outer port on water that was deep enough for ocean-going ships. However, Bremerhaven has long outgrown its role as junior partner. Today it numbers 130,000 residents and is a confident, independent metropolis that commends itself as an attractive and competitive regional centre and economic hub in the middle of an area populated by more than 300,000 people.

Its identity as a seaport has, however been maintained, down-to-earth and oriented towards success. As Europe's biggest car transhipment centre, for example, where an annual total of over 750,000 vehicles made in Germany, Italy and Japan are exported and imported. Provisions for the future have been made to ensure that Bremerhaven retains this status. Measures include the construction of the biggest German container terminal, which is currently being extended to meet the requirements of the next millennium. Functionality has taken the place of seafaring romance at the port. And yet, history is tangible here - in the museum harbour with its tall ships and veteran vessels or at the Maritime Museum which vividly retells the history of shipping. The story of emigration, for instance, which for almost a century made Bremerhaven the central port of emigration for the more than 10 million Europeans who left from here to seek a new future on the other side of the Atlantic.

City of Bremerhaven Today, this is just a memory in a town that is changing, a town that is purposefully drawing up plans for the development of new economic strength, for an independent profile as a university and research location, and that confidently shows its flag as a cultural centre with theatres, museums and galleries. Initiatives have already borne fruit, in the form of the Alfred Wegener Institute, for example, Germany's central research facility for polar, marine and climate research, based in Bremerhaven.

Bremerhaven's future in a changing world has long since begun. The aim is to develop and expand the seaport, fishing and shipbuilding town into a prosperous centre of diverse maritime industries, and to strengthen it as an engine for tourism in the region. The city's attractiveness as a leisure resort is something it already makes the most of. This is a shopping paradise right next to the sea, where you can stroll around department stores and boutiques, through seaport pubs and chic bistros and virtually never lose sight of ships, the dikes and the seaport atmosphere. The intensity of experience offered in Bremerhaven makes it an almost unique resort linking the land and the sea.

[History][Economy][Science][Culture][Sport][Leisure] For more detailed information, please refer to http://www.bremen.de or http://www.bremen-tourism.de.

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