| City of Wilhelmshaven |  | | General | | Administration¹ | | Special
location features¹ | Wilhelmshaven, with a population of over 80,000, is the major business and cultural centre with a broad spectrum of leisure offerings on the North Sea coast; more precisely expressed: in the "Southern North Sea" region. It is a dynamic coastal city that offers high quality of life.
As a prime location for port-oriented industrial facilities, the economic profile of Wilhelmshaven is marked by industry and the seaport, as well as a diverse range of service companies (in particular from the IT sector), skilled trade and craft enterprises, and commercial trading firms. As a location for the Wilhelmshaven/Oldenburg/Elsfleth University of Applied Sciences, the BioTechnologie Zentrum Nordwest and further research institutes operating in a variety of domains, Wilhelmshaven can boast a high innovation potential.
Directly situated on the North Sea coast on the deep navigable waterway of the "Jade", Wilhelmshaven has been the most important port of transshipment for oil in Germany for decades. The natural depth of the approach waterway, 18 metres, is now also the key reason why Germany's only deepwater container port, the JadeWeserPort, is being built in Wilhelmshaven at a cost of around one billion euros.
The boom in container shipping is continuing despite the present period of stagnation. Larger and larger vessels are being built with larger and larger draughts. The direct access to waters suitable for sea-going vessels and the short approach channel of only 23 nautical miles are the decisive advantages of Wilhelmshaven as opposed to other German ports. Lower Saxony is fully backing this port, which is the only German seaport to be able to receive the future mega-carriers at any time and fully loaded.
With the JadeWeserPort, Germany can build up a competitive position with regard to the ARA ports along the "North Range" for the first time in the segment of the largest container ships as well.
A further major advantage for the location is the fact that there is a logistics zone of 160 hectares directly adjacent to the container terminal. These are ideal conditions for establishing a freight village, which, by the way, would then be the only freight village next to a seaport in Germany.
Advantaged by the decision to build the JadeWeserPort, short- to medium-term investment projects are taking concrete shape with a total volume of 5 to 7 billion euros.
A 800 MW coal-fired power plant from GDF Suez is under construction, which will enter the national grid in 2012. Further power plant plans exist at E.ON, a company that already operates a 740 MW power plant in Wilhelmshaven.
The Wilhelmshavener Raffinerie, a refinery belonging to the US ConocoPhillips Group, is planning to invest billions of euros in extensive new plant facilities to expand capacity and increase the depth of production.
Further projects being planned lie in the domain of landing liquid natural gas (LNG).
Wilhelmshaven is therefore a hotspot for investments in Europe and is on its way to becoming a logistics and energy hub of international significance.
Expansive industrial and commercial estates in various locations and in various qualities give investors the chance to take part in the economic development in Wilhelmshaven.
The existing structures represent an ideal basis to complement the maritime economic cluster.
Companies can draw upon a large pool of human resources within the region; special requirements are covered quickly and reliably through a tried-and-tested qualification network.
Further arguments in favour of our business location are the exemplary coexistence of industry, leisure and tourism, the multifaceted cultural offerings, excellent opportunities for shopping (North Sea Passage with its 28,000 square metres of covered sales space), and attractive sport facilities.
Further information is available at www.wilhelmshaven.de
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| Business sites,
real estates | | Business sites: | 10 |
View | | | Real estates: | 3 |
View | | |
| | | Population | Population²
| | | | | | | | | | Inhabitants: | 81,411 | | 40,604 |
(49.9 %)
| | 40,807 |
(50.1 %)
| |
Age structure: |  | |
| Population density²
| | Inhabitants/km²: | 761.5 | |
| | | Infrastructure | | Educational institutions² | | Elementary schools: | 17 | | Secondary schools: | 4 | | Secondary modern schools: | 3 | | Grammar schools: | 3 | | Special schools: | 4 | | Vocational schools: | 2 | | Other educational
facilities¹:
| Wilhelmshaven is a location of the University of Applied Sciences Wilhelmshaven/Oldenburg/Elsfleth with up to 3,000 students.
Alongside all the usual types of schools, there are also:
vocational schools
an adult education college
a school of music
Scientific facilities in the locality are:
DEWI Deutsches Windenergie-Institut GmbH (German Wind Energy Institute)
German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB)
Institute for Marine Chemistry and Biology at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg (ICBM)
Terramare Research Centre
Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research
Senckenberg Research Institute
"Vogelwarte Helgoland" Institute for Bird Research
| |
| | Health care¹ | | Hospitals: | 2 | | Other medical health
facilities:
| Reinhard-Nieter-Krankenhaus (hospital), 517 beds
St. Willehad-Hospital
Reha Zentrum Wilhelmshaven Klinik am Park (rehab centre) | |
| | Leisure/culture/sport¹ | Leisure
facilities:
| Wilhelmshaven can boast over ca. 300 hectares of parkland area and has therefore earned the epithet "green city by the sea".
The range of maritime leisure activities includes the South Beach ("Südstrand") and the inland lake "Banter See" as well as the new "nautimo" indoor swimming baths.
As a major regional centreof business, administration and culture, Wilhelmshaven provides the full spectrum of shopping facilities: from the inexpensive to the exclusive, from regional Frisian articles to extravagant luxuries. A particular magnet for shoppers is the "North Sea Passage" ("Nordseepassage") at the new rail station, where shopping becomes an exciting experience within a covered sales area of 28,000 square metres.
The host of city festivals is dominated by the "Weekend on the Jade".
Other highlights include:
Windjammer regatta "JadeWeserPort-Cup"
"Fun-Sport-Festival"
Festival of Sea Music
Maritime Film Festival
"Culture Carousel"
Festival of cabaret, vaudeville and variety acts
| | Cultural
facilities:
| The "German Marine Museum" ("Deutsche Marinemuseum") presents a large number of exhibits giving an interesting insight into the historical development of the Germany Navy.
In the virtual undersea world "Oceanis", a spectacular journey down to a depth of 100 metres is simulated in a unique universe combining scientific facts and thrilling adventures.
The "New Coastal Museum" ("Neue Küstenmuseum") informs visitors about city settlement and its urban history and also houses the JadeWeserPort exhibition. Information about the construction of the JadeWeserPort and worldwide container transport is provided by the JadeWeserPort InfoCenter directly at the container port building site.
The cultural activities on offer are rounded off by
the "Wattenmeerhaus" ("Wadden Sea House"),
the "Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Centre",
the seawater aquarium,
the Kunsthalle ("Art Hall"),
the municipal theatre,
the "Pumpwerk" cultural centre,
the Niederdeutsche Bühne (theatre specialising in the Low German dialect)
the Landesbühne (state theatre) Niedersachsen Nord, and
the Botanic Gardens.
| | Sport
facilities:
| Sports clubs are represented in large numbers and present ample opportunities for engaging in all kinds of sports. The spectrum ranges from watersports in all its facets over the classic types of sports to clay-pigeon shooting.
Wilhelmshaven is renowned far beyond the region for
its Sport Forum with "Nordfrost-Arena" (handball second division), its football stadium (regional league), and
its 18-hole golf course.
| | | Special amenities on offer: | WTF Wilhelmshaven Touristik & Freizeit GmbH 
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| | Transport¹ | | | | | | | | Motorway | A 29 | | 0 km | | | Trunk road / A-road | B 210 | | 0 km | | | Regional airport | Mariensiel Airfield | | 5 km | | | Seaport | Wilhelmshaven | | 0 km | | | | Comment on the
transport infrastructure:
| The motorway A 29 leads directly into the industrial estate and to the future JadeWeserPort. Feed roads, bypass roads and rail sidings provide comprehensive access, with the result that all the industrial sites are extensively connected within the transport network.
Wilhelmshaven is particularly favourable for worldwide maritime traffic thanks to its outstanding geographical position. An estuary shipping route of only 23 nautical miles ensures that the maritime channels to all the world's trading centres and transshipment terminals are quickly reached. The safety and ease of navigation on the "Jade", which is highly regarded by seamen, and the deep waterway of 18 metres below sea chart zero are conditions and merits that no other German port can claim.
In the deepwater port, liquid, solid and gaseous bulk goods and chemicals can be handled on a total of four jetties. These will be supplemented by the first 1,000-metre quay of the JadeWeserPort deep-sea container port with intermodal freight transport terminal from October 2011 onwards. A further 725 metres will be completed by the end of 2012. The operating consortium Eurogate/APM Terminals/NCC will start operations in October 2011; the JadeWeserPort will have a capacity of 2.7 million TEU per year.
| | | Special infrastructurer: | NPorts - state port authority
| Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Wilhelmshaven - municipal port authority
| HBG Hafenbetriebsgesellschaft Wilhelmshaven
| Wilhelmshavener Hafenwirtschafts-Vereinigung
| JadeWeserPort Realisierungs GmbH & Co. KG
| JadeWeserPort Logistics Zone GmbH
| |
| | | Economics | Economic strength²  | | | | | | | Gross domestic product 2007:
| 30,508 | 104 % | | Buying power level 2002:
| 16,400 | - | | | | | | | | | Gross value added 2007 | | - Production sector: | 66,777 | 103 % | | - Service sector: | 49,224 | 95 % | | | | | | | | Net revenue from local business tax 2008:
| 257.83 | 47 % | | Municipal share of income tax 2008:
| 253.20 | 83 % | | |
| Employment²
| | | | | | | | | | | Employed persons: | 25,119 | 11,027 |
(43.9 %)
| 14,092 |
(56.1 %)
| | Change over previous year: | +454 |
(+1.8 %)
| | | Employment rate: | 41.5 | % | |
Employed persons acc. to
economic sectors: |  | | | | | | | | Commuters: | 9,835 | 5,779 | +4,056 | | | |
| | Unemployment³ | | Major
companies¹ | | | Collection rates¹ | | Local business tax: | 395 % | | | Local property tax A: | 410 % | | | Local property tax B: | 410 % | | |
| | Business promotion schemes¹ | The entire urban region of Wilhelmshaven is an assisted region with "C-area" designation within the framework of the federal/state Joint Task (Gemeinschaftsaufgabe or GA) for the "improvement of the regional economic structure"; as such it enjoys the highest funding category in the states of West Germany.
Wilhelmshaven also falls within the target area for "Regional Competitiveness and Employment" funding from the European Union.
| | | Link to promotion info: | Local government promotion programme for SMEs
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| Business promotion
agencies¹ | |
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