Hafen (Harbour) is a district of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is located in the north-west of the city and had a population of roughly 2,358 residents in 1,454 households as of late 2008. One year earlier the city had 2,372 residents. It covers an area of 407.2 hectares. The most important aspect of the area's economy is the city harbour from which the district takes its name; primarily home to industrial estates. The harbour is connected to the

Mittelland Canal The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway conne ...

by the Osnabrück branch canal (termed the “Stichkanal” or “Zweigkanal”). The construction of the harbour basin, along with the closing off of the area, began in 1912; in 1916 the first ship was berthed here, one year after the completion of the branch canal – the

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

“Minden 52”, which had transported 475 tons of oats to Osnabrück, arrived on 3 April. 1.28 million tons of goods were handled in the harbour area during 2004; goods transported by ship accounted for 629,000 tons of this total. In 2008 1.24 million tons were handled; there was, however, a marked decrease in 2009. The local Hafenbahn (harbour railway) is run by the Stadtwerke Osnabrück (Osnabrück Public Utilities), which also runs the harbour itself. Businesses based at the harbour include

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics Hellmann Worldwide Logistics SE & Co. KG is a German logistics services company with its head office in Osnabrück, Germany. In 2000 the company had 300 offices located on five continents. It is a family-owned company.Schölerberg. The Osnabrück-Piesberg railway station is located in the northern part of the Hafen district; it runs special services using museum trains, which travel via Osnabrück-Altstadt towards the Hauptbahnhof (central station) on several days every year.

History

After the decision was made not to extend the Mittelland Canal – as originally planned – through the cities of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...

Salzgitter Salzgitter (; Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven ''Oberzentren'' of Lower ...

and Osnabrück (due to reasons of cost and longitudinal profile), it was decided in 1905 that branch canals should be set up so that the emergent industry in these cities could profit from the favourable transport conditions offered by the Mittelland Canal. Osnabrück's branch canal starts in the Hafen area and leads towards

Bramsche Bramsche is a town in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about north of Osnabrück, at . Population is 30,952 (2018). Subdivisions In 1971/72 12 previously independent municipalities were included into the town. *Achmer *B ...

, where it joins the Mittelland Canal. The initial plan was to have the branch canal lead to the smelting works in

Georgsmarienhütte Georgsmarienhütte () is a town in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teutoburg Forest, approx. 7 km south of Osnabrück. History In 1856 the company "Georgs-Marien-Bergwerks- und Hüttenverein" wa ...

; this however was dropped due to the costs entailed. In 1912 work started on closing off the harbour area and delineation of the harbour basin. On 3 April 1916 the first barge – which had travelled from Bremen via Minden – arrived at Osnabrück harbour, carrying 475 tons of oats.Feige, “Der Osnabrücker Hafen”, p.74f

References

Works

* Feige, B., “Der Osnabrücker Hafen” in Heimat-Jahrbuch Osnabrücker Land (Heimatbund Osnabrücker Land e.V, 2001), pps. 73 + 85 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hafen (Osnabruck) Geography of Osnabrück