lubricant special edition of maritime

8/19/2019 Lubricant Special Edition of Maritime

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www.maritime-ceo.com

Challengesand Solutions

Lubricants Special

In association with:


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provides cost

efficient lubrication solutions and

expert technical services to the

shipping industry.

For worldwide and 24/7 high

performance marine lubricantsdeliveries contact our global team:

JUST TELL USWHERE AND WHEN

MARINE LUBRICANTS

UNIMARINE

[email protected]

www.unimarine-lubricants.com

Visit us at Hall A2,Booth 219 at SMM

in Hamburg


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LUBRICANTS SPECIAL 1

Contents

2 Challenges

5 LNG as a fuel

6 Te world of UniMarine

8 Unique lube player

10 Solutions

12 Hamburg

INTRODUCTION

A fter insurance and crew pay,

it is lubricants that rank as

the third most expensive

item on the daily operating costs of

a ship for an owner. As this maga-zine shows, lubricants can count

for up to 17% of a vessel ’s outlay.

What ’s more there has never been

a more bewildering choice of lubes,

reflecting the hugely changing envi-

ronmental scene that shipping faces

going forward.

What Maritime CEO has set

out to do, in association with lube

specialist UniMarine, is to identify

challenges and solutions facing

shipowners when selecting a marine

lubricant. o do this in depth wecontacted around 100 shipowners

and managers to assess what bothers

them with today’s lube industry and

then we mapped out how to solve

many of these problems.

On top of that, there’s a look at

various interconnected topics such

as LNG as a fuel and scrubbers, and

since Maritime CEO and UniMarine

wil l be both be present at SMM this

September we have thrown in a

useful travel guide to Hamburg onthe back page. We hope you find this

magazine of value.

Sam Chambers

Editor

Maritime

Vital time to learnmore about marinelubricants sector

An ASM publication

Editorial Director:Sam [email protected]

Associate Edi tors: Jason [email protected]

Katherine [email protected]

Correspondents: Athens: Ionnis NikolaouBogota: Richard McCollCairo: Camelia EwissCape Town: Joe CunliffeDubai: Yousra ShaikhHong Kong: Alfred RomannLondon: Craig Jallal

Mumbai: Divya LadNew York: Suzanne SmithOslo: Hans ThaulowPortland: Joshua Samuel BrownShanghai: Colin QuekSingapore: V SubramanianSydney: Ross White-ChinneryTaipei: David GreenTokyo: Masanori Kikuchi

Contributors: Nick Berriff, Andrew Craig-Bennett, Charles De Trenck, Paul French, ChrisGarman, Lars Jensen, Jeffrey Landsberg, PeterSand, Siddhartha Sanyal, Eytan Uliel

Editorial material should be sent [email protected] or mailed toOffice 701, 9 Renmin Lu, Zhongshan District,Dalian, China 116001

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Grant [email protected]

Sales Director:Helen [email protected]

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maritime2

CHALLENGES

I

t is fair to say that the selection of

lubricants onboard ship has never

been more tricky or scrutinised.

Since the market crash of 2008cost cutting has been uppermost

in ship operators’ minds, desperate

to stay afloat in what have been

intensely tricky financial times. After

insurance and crew costs, lubes

make up the third highest cost in

the daily running of a ship, typical ly

accounting for 10% on average, but

occasionally running as high as 17%

of costs. However, price is not the

most important aspect shipowners

and operators look for when select-ing a lube supplier, according to a

wide-ranging survey carried out by

Maritime CEO for this magazine.

In compiling the magazine,

Maritime CEO sent out a survey to

around 100 shipowners and manag-

ers on key lube issues. Price, while

important, for sure, only ranked num-

ber three in the selection criteria.

Michael Moschonas, chief

technical officer with Greece’s Almi

ankers, lists product quality and

suitability, the reputation of thesupplier, technical support and ser-

vices, worldwide availability of all

grades, before mentioning price.

On the issue of price a fleet man-

ager in the tanker sector based in

Singapore tells Maritime CEO : “Some

might say rebates based on volume,

but I would prefer a good upfront

price with no accounting games.”

Ian Claxton, managing director

of Tailand’s Toresen & Co, says

quality product with no contamina-tion, a guaranteed delivery period

without delays to vessel or offhire and

strong after sales support such as lab-

oratory testing, training on use and

handling, product news and regula-

tory information updates, all go a long

way when selecting a lube supplier.

Meanwhile, the purchasing

manager of one of the world’s largest

containerlines has another thing

he is looking out for when choosing

a lubricant company. “Since some

new regulations are coming in, we

are looking whether their products

are recommended by the equip-ment maker,” he says from the firm’s

European headquarters.

Quite so, agrees Kishore

Rajvanshy, managing director at

Hong Kong’s Fleet Management.

In the last year there has been

a change in rules for engine design

which requires a change in the grade

of lubricating oil, Rajvanshy explains.

Tis is specific to new electronic

engines where there is a requirement

for BN 100 for cylinder lubrication.“Te stock and availability

for this grade is not there in many

There’s plenty that owners and managers willdemand when choosing a lube supplier

More than just price


5/16


normal ports of lif ting and in other

ports it is a much bigger challenge,”

he says, adding: “For the VGP com-

pliance, the availability for the stern

tube lubrication which wil l match

the stern tube seal maker require-ment is also a challenge. Approvals

for major brands are pending.”

Global availability

Rajvanshy, as with almost all

respondents, touches on the issue of

global availability, something that

clearly vexes a huge percentage of

shipowners and managers.

“We want a supplier who works

with us to achieve the best physicalasset protection, security of supply

and competitive costs for supply

operations,” says Mark Haslett, direc-

tor of procurement at Wallem Ship

Management.

“Te greatest chal lenge the

industry is facing is actually being

able to supply the correct grades that

the ships need, at the ports where

they need the oil,” says Haslett. A

number of the majors are focused

on big ships in big ports so there canbe a limited choice of suppliers for

smaller vessels such as bulk carr iers

trading routes with smaller ports, he

adds.

Wallem takes care to set up

appropriate contracts for each vessel

and owner. Tus the Hong Kong-

based manager can select a supplier

with suitable geographical coverage,

unlike large volume aggregators

which simply attach each new ship

to a contract which prioritisesthe headline grabbing ports of

Rotterdam and Singapore.●

“ Te greatest challenge the industry is facing isactually being able to supply the correct grades thatthe ships need, at the ports where they need the oil’ ”

CHALLENGES


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maritime4

CHALLENGES

How well are you technically supported

and informed on new lube products

such as biolubes, high BN cylinder oil

or ultra-low sulphur cylinder oil?

Manufacturers will advise and push

new products that comply with any

new regulations via many communi-

cation channels, reckons Ian Claxton,

managing director of Tai shipowner,

Toresen & Co.

Nevertheless, the introduction ofboth biolubes and especially BN 100

cylinder oil was not handled par-

ticularly well by the industry, argues

Mark Haslett, director of procure-

ment at Wallem Ship Management.

Te VGP deadline in December 2013

was known well in advance.

When an engine maker stipulated

the use of BN 100 cylinder oil for a

whole range of engines - effectively

changing the recommendation away

from grades that had been previouslyapproved to use - oil companies began

to respond with products.

echnical support is becoming

increasingly critical for seagoing

engineers to ensure that the feed

rates are optimised for the benefit of

the engine and costs.

How well supported do you feel at ship-

yards in terms of lubricants?

Supply to shipyards is usually okay,

most of our respondents reckoned,

but it can be at a high cost i f it isfor a newbuild. Repair yards do not

appear to be an issue.

Te procurement boss for a

leading European containerline had

this to say on the matter.

“Now regarding the newbuilding

yard, there are too many third parties

especially which make the final

delivery very complicated and often

in stupid packaging. Under contract

the LO delivery is FAS or FOB, but for

newbuilds, you have to take care ofthe yard clearance, help them to get

the custom clearance and the process

may vary from a city to another; in

short it is pretty messy.”

For newbuildings a useful piece

of advice Maritime CEO picked up is

to put the minimum onboard in the

yard and take the maximum at the

first bunker port. Te cost can be

25-40% cheaper depending on the

shipyard location.

Do you feel you are technically well

supported by onboard and ashore lube

engineer visits?

As long as the lubes are not purchased

like a commodity, the operator tends

to get good technical support, most of

our respondents said.

One fleet manager in the tanker

sector in Singapore moaned that lubesuppliers do not seem to visit in the

same way that, say, chemical suppli-

ers do. Nevertheless, when it comes

to onshore, lab testing and analysis of

issues is first class, he adds.

One liner respondent says his

company never gets visits and feels

that his ships are better supported

by engine makers regarding lube oil

than the lube suppliers themselves.

“Te interest of the lube oil maker

is that you spend more on oil, ourinterest is to decrease the feed rate

hence we will not listen to their advice

and more follow the engine maker

recommendation with whom we may

have a warranty,” he points out.

Regarding lube oil analysis,

there appears to be mixed messages

coming from the majors, says another

liner executive whereby owners

might get an alert on a particular

item from one company while a rival

maintains the same product is fine.

“What is your level of confidencein the analysis made by the lube oil

maker,” he questions, “as its inter-

est is for you to replace the lubes

onboard.” ●

“ Te introductionof both biolubes andespecially BN 100

cylinder oil was not

handled particularly wellby the industry ”

Maritime CEO surveyed close to 100 ownersand managers in compiling this magazine.Below are some of their thoughts

Understanding the

industry’s concerns


7/16


little while back James

Ashworth, lead consult-

ant with Singapore-based

oil and gas consultancy, ri-Zen

International, told Maritime CEO that

shipping is going through a seismic

shift in its adoption of LNG as a fuel.

Not mincing his words, he stated,

“We are witnessing the greatest

change in shipping since Winston

Churchill advocated the move fromcoal, a UK plentiful strategic reserve,

to imported oil for the Royal Navy.”

Arguably the beginning of this

July may well have been the moment

when the overplayed ‘chicken and egg’

discussion about LNG as a fuel came

to an end. On July 2, Japanese line

NYK ordered the world’s first LNG

bunkering vessel.

In a joint initiative to develop a

global market for the LNG bunkering

business, NYK concluded a frame- work agreement with France’s GDF

Suez and Mitsubishi Corporation to

distribute LNG in Europe.

Te vessel will be delivered in

2016, and will be based at the port

of Zeebrugge. Te vessel will deliver

LNG to LNG-fuelled vessels operating

mainly in the North Sea and the Baltic

Sea. Going forward, the joint venture

is looking to roll out similar vessels

across the globe.

In Northern Europe, about 50

LNG-fuelled vessels — most of which

are ferries, cruiseships, and

offshore related vessels —

are already in operation.

o support the increas-

ing number of LNG-fuelled vessels

in operation, the challenge is to

develop and improve the supply

infrastructure. Despiter NYK’s com-

mendable start much more needs to

be done in this department, says Erik

Lewenhaupt, a senior executive withSweden’s Stena.

“Te world fleet is large and in

many segments it will not be eco-

nomically feasible to convert vessels

to other propulsions,” he maintains,

adding: “It will therefore take a con-

siderable time before we see changes

away from fuel oil propulsion in larger

numbers.”

However, on the longer term

Stena believes LNG together with

methanol has a large potential to bebig marine fuels.

“Te challenge with LNG,” says

Lewenhaupt, “is the infrastructure

and the pricing where we need to see

investments in shore tanks, terminals

and bunker vessels on a large scale to

make this an accessible alternative

worldwide as well as more compet-

itive pricing which is linked to the

market price of LNG and not bunker

oil to compensate for the substantial

handling and investment costs for

shipowners.”

As these

factors are still uncertain Stena is also

running a parallel track with metha-

nol which is equally environmentally

friendly - but easier to handle as a

marine fuel. Stena will in 2015, asa world first, convert a large ropax

ferry, Stena Germanica, to methanol

propulsion.

One tanker manager in Singapore

questions whether there is critical

mass yet for this huge fuel switch.

“Do you build bunker vessels for LNG

to supply non-existent ships, or do

you build ships and hope that bunker

suppliers will set up shop,” he muses,

suggesting that dual fuel is likely to be

the answer for the next 20 years.Meanwhile, Toresen boss,

Ian Claxton, will be holding off any

LNG investments for the time being.

“Initial expense, space lost to fuel

storage, safety and, of course, the reli-

ance on the current cost differential

between LNG and bunker oil to pay

for the additional cost of equipment

not being reliable 10 years ahead, all

contribute towards this technology

being a non-affordable luxur y for

the average dry bulk operator at this

time,” he says.Bureau Veritas has recently

published a comprehensive set of

guidelines on LNG bunkering. BV’s

technical director, Jean-Francois

Segretain says, “Fears over [LNG’s]

availability in the bunker chain are

holding back owners from adopting

it. Part of the issue is that ports and

terminals wishing to provide LNG as

bunkers and shipowners wishing to

have LNG-powered ships do not have

agreed international standard bunker procedures to work to.” All this will

change soon.●

Lots of hot airInevitable? A way off? The debate rages on

A

CHALLENGESLNG AS FUEL

Ethane first This July Ocean Yield, an Oslo-based shipowner, placed orders for three eth-ylene gas carriers of 36,000 cu m capacity to be built at Sinopacic Offshore& Engineering in China. Each will be powered by a single MAN B&W ME-GIlow-speed, dual-fuel engine. The engines will run on ethane, which ethylenecarriers are also equipped to transport, and represents the rst time ethane hasbeen used as fuel to propel an oceangoing vessel.

MAN Diesel & Turbo said ethane was chosen as fuel, in preferenceto HFO, due to its more competitive pricing as well as the signicantly

shorter bunkering time it entails. As a fuel, its emissions prole is alsosuperior to HFO, the engine maker said.


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maritime6

Globally on callWith more than 850 ports coveredright across the world UniMarine canguarantee lube solutions to any ship,anywhere, any time.

MAP


9/16


REGULAR


10/16

maritime8

UNIMARINE

s this magazine serves to

show, selecting the right

lubricant has rarely been

more challenging and confusing for

shipowners. At a time when the lube

sector is contracting, not just in

size but also in the range of services

offered it takes someone new, brave

and innovative to find the necessarysolutions and to tailor make them

to individual shipowner require-

ments. UniMarine was founded last

year, yet its heritage stretches a long

way back as a member of Denmark’s

United Shipping & rading (USC),

a global group of companies serving

the marine market since 1876 and a

global leader in marine bunkering.

As a shipowner and opera-

tor USC controls a f leet of large,

modern, chemical and productstankers and has a global footprint

covering shipping, point-to-point

logistics, supply of bunker fuels and

marine lubricants. USC realized the

lubricant market was in need of a new

direction and seized its opportunity

with the creation of UniMarine.

Singapore-headquarteredUniMarine has drawn together a

global network (see pages 6 and 7)

covering more than 850 supplied

ports in a remarkably short amount

of time. Arguably more important

has been UniMarine’s remarkable

recruitment of many of the world’s

top experts in marine lubricants. In

every major port UniMarine has gen-

uine lube solution providers in place

to assist shipowners with whatever

their needs are.

With a lube veteran, CarolineHuot, at the helm, UniMarine has

been quick to listen to owners’ needs

and concerns and to address them in

a transparent manner, shaking up the

sector in a dramatic way. UniMarine’s

commitment to tailor make lube

solutions is very much positioning the

company as a boutique brand, albeit

one that is able to offer very competi-

tive prices.

“If we study the marine lubri-

cants market today versus 10 yearsago,” says Huot, “most of the major

suppliers have limited their services

in many ways.” She lists availability

of products, geographical coverage,24/7 customer service and technical

support. “his has paved the way for

the entry of both physical suppliers

and original solutions suppliers like

UniMarine. I believe the marine

lubricants market may well be more

atomized in the years to come and

that the picture we shall see in 2020

onwards will be rather different

from the one we used to know

some years ago.”

he shipping

industry has cometo expect close

cooperation

between

engine

Expertise everywhereThe shipping industry has been crying out for a more responsivelubricants company. One has emerged

A

“ Most of the majorsuppliers have limitedtheir services in manyways ”


11/16


UNIMARINE

manufacturers and oil suppliers in

order to be sure that new engine

designs are matched with the proper

lubricant at the right time and in all

the needed locations, Huot says.

In the past there was an obvious

understanding of the cyclical nature

of shipping so that support in tough

times was implicit as was sharing

some of the benefits during growth

periods. Right now such understand-

ing has somewhat disappeared,

Huot reckons: the marine lubricants

market has become more split up and

less cooperative than it was before,

when objectives and interests of

suppliers were much more aligned

with OEM requirements and owners’requirements.

“At UniMarine,” Huot stresses,

“we have united shipping and lubrica-

tion passionate experts cooperating

with reliable suppliers and partners to

form a team dedicated to supplying

fleets with tailor made lubrication

solutions globally answering all your

needs without compromise, 365 days

a year and 24/7.

“We believe that success in the

coming years depends on meaningful

partnerships, transparency in opera-

tions and a firm commitment to the

values and philosophy that underlie

our shipping community.”UniMarine’s unique network

of suppliers worldwide is designed

to offer owners high performance

products and technical support based

on the concept of ‘regional supply’ in

order to offer what is best where it is

the best.

UniMarine understands that

smooth operations imply servic-

ing the needs of both onboard and

onshore teams in a timely manner

with the best combination of high

performance products meeting all the

technical requirements of the engine

and auxiliary equipment manufac-

turers, expert customer services andhigh performance used oil analysis

services.●

“ Te marine lubricants market has become moresplit up and less cooperative”


12/16

maritime10

O wners have both short- and

long-term concerns when it

comes to lubricants: everyone wants to see support from the lube

suppliers in term of cost efficiency in

order to help the vessels OPEX budg-

ets. Practically that means efforts

on the product cost itself but as well

improvements in terms of port avail-

ability. For instance, if bulk supply is

available when needed the owner can

save the drum cost, if extra charges

are minimized assuming that marine

lubricants service should be 24/7 as

are vessels operations, that is alsohelping.

Te reduction in availability

is a concern for everyone, says

UniMarine boss, Caroline Huot,

and it is not just in terms of grades

around the world, but also there are

less and less brands.

“No one is making an effort to

supply any more,” she says.

With Singapore offering the

cheapest lubes one piece of simply

advice from Huot is for owners

to take on big quantities there,

organized well in advance. It is then

vital for owners to work with their

suppliers to get a better average pricearound the world.

“Te right information will get

you a better price,” she says.

In the old times there was an

obvious understanding of the cyclical

nature of shipping by the lube sup-

pliers so that support in tough times

was implicit as was sharing some of

the benefits during growth periods.

Right now, Huot reckons, such under-

standing has somewhat disappeared

with each party pursuing very oftenits own interests.

In the long term, owners expect

a very close cooperation between

OEMs and lube oil suppliers in order

to be sure that new engine designs

are matched with the proper product

and at the right time.

“Tere is an expertise gap in this

business,” Huot says, explaining that

new generations of marine engineers

do not focus anymore on marine

lubricants as a career downstream in

the oil industry is the less attractive

sector compared to upstream.

“Tere is a whole generationmissing,” Huot says. Fur thermore,

lubrication education is a tiny part in

the courses of maritime universities

and there is less and less coopera-

tion between oil suppliers in general

and maritime institutions. “At

UniMarine we intend to renew these

cooperation activities and resume

lubrication courses, practical courses

- testing, interpretation of analysis,

as well scholarships for promising

cadets interested to learn more on

lubrication,” Huot asserts.

Navigating regulatoryand technical changesShipping faces great challenges with a raft of new lawscoming in. However, answers are to hand

SOLUTIONS

UNIMARINE PROVIDES IS marine

clients with a 24/7 contact both via

phone and email recognising that ves-

sels operations cannot be delayed due

to time difference.

Says Wani Ariappan,

UniMarine’s customer service

manager, “A BlackBerry is an indis- pensable tool in this role and we

always carry them with us, being

ready to reply to customers’ inquir-

ies at any time of the day and of the

night and to liaise permanently with

the physical supplier in charge of the

physical delivery. We are also closely

working in liaison with our other

customer services worldwide which

allow following up inquiries round

the clock, hence providing a real 24/7,

non-stop service to our clients.“After many years in the business

I have created strong relationships

with physical suppliers, majors and

customers, which have become like abig family.”●

Standby help


13/16


ECAs

Various new emission control areas

that come into place in 2015 raise

a lot of issues pertaining to the

availability of fuels geographically

- and therefore of fuel management

when tramping in various areas of

the world - and of the right lubricants

when burning ultra-low sulphur fuel.

A new generation of cylinder oil is

needed to cope with the particularchallenges of an extra low sulphur

percentage and lube suppliers

research and development need to

anticipate the new operating condi-

tions carefully.

A look at the ongoing contro-

versy on which cyl inder oil to use for

super long stroke engines and when

slow steaming and it becomes clear

owners would benefit from a closer

cooperation with the OEMs on this

as well. Another regulatory constraint

closer to us is the USA Vessel General

Permit (VGP) – EPA rules which

wil l apply from December onwards:

owners need to be prepared and

understand the need of checking

the OEMs approvals of the biolubes

range they select as well as their real

in-ports and shipyards availability

well before in order to make sure not

to have any surprise when starting to

use such ranges. Again, in a marine

lubricants market where more and

more suppliers keep appearing,

those committed to providing proper

advice to shipping shall be of high

value.

If we study the mar ine lubri-

cants market today versus 10 years

ago, most of the major suppliers have

limited their services in many ways

(availability of products, geographi-

cal coverage, 24/7 customer serv ice,

technical support) hence paving the

way for the entry of both physical

suppliers and original solutions sup-

pliers l ike UniMarine.

“I believe the mar ine lubricants

market may well be more atomizedin the years to come and that the

picture we sha ll see in 2020 onwards

wil l be rather different from the one

we used to know some years ago,”

Huot says.

Fighting cold corrosion

UniMarine has launched a unique

piston underside oil a nalysis

program, Cyl inder Scrape-Down

Oil Analysis (CSDOA), to deal withmarine main engine cylinder liners

cold corrosion problem, something

that has been execrated by the

advent of slow steaming.

UniMarine’s CSDOA is a

laboratory-based technical service,

monitoring parameters of piston

underside oil. Te CSDOA not only

is able to identify cold corrosion of

cylinder walls and provides early

warning the engineer to be on the

alert for cold corrosion, but also ben-

efits other main engine related areas

such as optimisation of cylinder oil

feed rate.

Lab testing

Giving owners peace of mind by pro-

viding equipment to verify what they

are buying is correct and working

properly is something vital in today’s

hard-pressed shipping market.

UniMarine has developed what it

calls LubeSafe Minilab which offers a

variety of serv ices.

WIH HE JA NUARY 1, 2015

deadline fast approaching and a

number of Emissions Control Areas

(ECAs) setting tough new sulphur

limitations, scrubbers are very much

in the spotlight. Tis gas-abatement

technology has been used for many

years across shore-based industries,

however the application of the tech-

nology is still relatively novel to themaritime industry.

Tere are two main types of

scrubber systems: ‘wet’ and ‘dry’.

Although it is true that shore-based

industries widely use dry systems,

wetsystems are more common within

the maritime sector.

A wet scrubber system uses

seawateror freshwater with the

addition of chemicals to ‘wash’ the

harmful components from exhaust

gases. Forthe majority of owners, sea

waterscrubbers will be the option of

choice.Tese systems use a chem-ical process known as wet flue gas

desulphurisation (FGD) whereby flue

gases containing SO2, an acid, come

into contact with sea water. Te sea

water, an alkaline, acts as a bufferand dissolves the sulphur oxides.●

A KEY A ID to help reduce an owner’s

lube bill is to get an expert from

a supplier onboard ship. Sadly, in

these days of perennial cost cutting

fewer and fewer ship visits take

place. UniMarine is committed to

help all its customers with visits to

their ships.

Tomas o, UniMarine’s senior

technical manager, says owners

want visits onboard to fix problems

that might be missed otherwise.

“Engineering staff onboard are

not familiar with machinery lubri-cation in general,” he says, noting

how often they lack knowledge in

lubricants, are not clear about OEM

lubrication requirements and tend to

rely on used oil analysis for address-

ing lubrication problems rather than

their own experience.●

Heading onboard

Scrubbers

“ No one is makingan effort to supply anymore

”

SOLUTIONS


14/16

maritime12

HAMBURG

t a loose end in Hamburg?Germany’s second largest

city and “Gateway to the

World” won’t disappoint.

A visit to Hamburg must begin

at the old harbour area on the

Elbe River, the city’s heart since

the 12th century, and a perfect

area to discover on foot. Start at

St Michaelis Church, where you

can climb the tower for a fabulous

birds-eye view of the city. Ten stroll

to the Landungsbrücken (“landingbridges”), from where a boat cruise

wil l give you a real sense of what

Hamburg is all about – ships, docks,

and the sea (about an hour; English

tours available, so ask).

Walk along the waterfront on the

Elbpromenade, dotted with souvenir

stores, boutiques, and restaurants.

Make sure to try Hamburg’s very

own Fischbrötchen (fish sandwich),

available from snack bars along the

way. Te permanently moored Cap

San Diego cargo ship, now a museum,is worth a look. And if you happen to

be in the neighbourhood early on a

Sunday morning (4.30am - 9.30am)

don’t miss the Fischmarkt – a truly

fabulous open-air market, since 1703.

Great crowds, atmosphere, views

and music, not to mention boisterous

hawkers, will more than compensate

for the early start.

Continue your walk to the

HafenCity, Hamburg’s redevel-

oped maritime quarter, nowadaysa glittering showcase of ware-

house conversions, cutting-edge

architecture (like the HamburgCruise Centre, built out of 40 sea con-

tainers), theatres and museums (the

International Mar itime Museum is

the best of the bunch).

Although stealing the show here

is Miniature Wonderland, the world’s

largest model railway. No, it’s not just

for kids, and no, I am not kidding.

With over 12,000 m of track, 890

model trains, and 200,000 human

figurines, you will be blown away

by the sheer scale and detail of it all, whatever your a ge.

Done with the sea? Head north

into Hamburg’s Altstadt (Old own),

to the imposing sandstone Rathaus

(city hall), and the lovely open public

square that surrounds it. A short

tour of the sumptuous interior halls

wil l be well worth the effort.

From here you can simply wan-

der aimlessly, through narrow streets

lined with grand buildings, which

speak to Hamburg’s wealth as a trad-

ing city. If you’re feeling peckish, now would be the time for Franzbrötchen,

a pastry that looks a bit like a crois-

sant, with a cinnamon and sugar

filling – seriously addictive, and

unique to Hamburg. Here you will

also find the city’s best shopping –

whether in one of the plush indoor

shopping arcades, or on the main

shopping drag of the Jungfernstieg.

But you can’t escape the water

for long in Hamburg. Stretching into

the city’s north are the Alsters – twolarge, artificial inland lakes, sur-

rounded by luscious green parks and

crisscrossed by walking trails, so youcan stroll here for hours, read a book

under a tree, or even sunbathe on

the grass (in winter, when the lakes

freeze over, you can sometimes ice-

skate). For a really special experience

though, hop on a preserved steam-

boat for a romantic putter across the

waters. By law all lake-facing bui ld-

ings in Hamburg must be painted

white and their roofs covered with

copper, so the views are beautiful,

especially as the sun sets.Ten, once darkness falls, head

to the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s

notorious and slightly seedy red-light

district, in the city’s west. People

either love it or hate it here, but these

days it’s as much a tourist attraction

as anything else, with restaurants,

theatres, musicals, live shows and

good-old people watching on offer

(for those not so interested in the

world’s oldest profession).

So there you have it – Hamburg

in a day (or two or three) – a wonder-ful mix of the old and the new; the

land and the sea; great architecture

and natural beauty. All steeped in

the centuries-old maritime culture of

one of Europe’s busiest ports.

Oh, and by the way, in case

you’re wondering: yes, the hamburger

can indeed trace its origins to this

city. Apparently migrants from

Hamburg to North America brought

with them their beloved Frikadel le, a

ground-beef patty mixed with onion,spices and egg, pan-fried. Te rest, as

they say, is history.●

Beyond the exhibition floor

For those attending this year’s SMM, there’s plenty to enjoy in the grandcity of Hamburg

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