LYING REGION STILL HAS LITTLE INDUSTRY, BUT IS SET FOR GROWTH. GERMANY IS EAGER TO BUILD THE NEW PORT AMID FEARS THAT BIG OCEAN VESSELS WILL DIVERT TO THE DUTCH PORT OF ROTTERDAM AND THE BELGIAN HARBOUR OF ANTWERP IF THEY CANNOT LOAD IN HAMBURG OR BREMERHAVEN. HAMBURG MUST BE CONSTANTLY DREDGED TO HANDLE 13-METRE DRAUGHT SHIPS. VERY LARGE CONTAINER VESSELS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ENTER THE BALTIC SEA BECAUSE OF ITS NARROW ENTRANCE, SO MUCH OF EUROPE WILL DEPEND ON NORTH SEA PORTS FOR THEIR TRADE. DANISH SHIPPING GROUP MAERSK DISCLOSED MONDAY THAT IT WAS JOINING THE OPERATING CONSORTIUM WITH A 30-PER-CENT STAKE. THE OTHER INVESTOR IS THE GERMAN COMPANY EUROGATE. MAERSK AND EUROGATE ARE ALREADY PARTNERS IN A TERMINAL AT BREMERHAVEN. EUROGATE STRESSED TUESDAY THAT THE WILHELMSHAVEN PROJECT WOULD NOT DETRACT FROM THE OTHER PORTS, NOTING THAT IT WAS ALSO BUILDING FOUR NEW BERTHS IN BREMERHAVEN AND TWO IN HAMBURG. "ALL THREE PORTS WILL WORK HAND IN HAND," SAID ITS CHIEF EXECUTIVE EMANUEL SCHIFFER. "EACH HAS ITS PARTICULAR ADVANTAGE."
