Dr. Joachim Lohse

Dr. Joachim Lohse, Senator for the Environment, Construction and Transportation of the City-State of Bremen will be visiting the Atlantic Coast from November 13-16, 2012. The Heinrich Böll Foundation and the BlueGreen Alliance are jointly organizing an offshore wind tour during which some of the success stories from the German offshore wind experience will be shared with US counterparts in Washington DC, Maryland and New York City. The focus of the tour will be on highlighting the vast potential that offshore wind can have on the regional economic development in seaport communities.

Senator Lohse will emphasize some of the positive economic effects that the offshore wind development has had on his own region of Bremen and Bremerhaven. During the Cold War, Bremen served as one of the key supply harbors for the US Army stationed in Western Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, and with the growing competition from other Asian and Eastern European ports, the region experienced a severe economic downturn. As a result, major shipyards were closed down leading to a sharp rise in unemployment and a dramatic population decrease from 150,000 to 100,000. In 2002, the city council decided to reverse this trend and saw the potential in turning their port into an economic hub for the offshore wind industry. By the year 2020, the city estimates that the offshore wind industry will provide 14,000 new jobs in the port region alone. All over Northern Germany, seaport communities are now striving to get into this act as well.

For more on this topic, read "A Fresh Breeze for Seaports: How Offshore Wind Boosts Local Maritime Economies in Germany" by Rebecca Bertram.