Bamberg residents soak up the sun in the port

Bamberg, 17 September 2019 – What a day to remember at bayernhafen Bamberg! The late summer weather on the first Sunday following the start of the new school year provided the perfect conditions for hosting bayernhafen Bamberg’s port festival. Thousands of visitors from Bamberg needed no further encouragement to turn the port into a place to walk, discover and be amazed. Just like in 2012 for the port’s 50th anniversary, there was once again lots to see, try out and enjoy. A typical port in all its diversity!

Right from the word go in the morning, the historical steam train and the pleasure boat were in great demand – both took their passengers on trips around the port to highlight what makes bayernhafen Bamberg the cargo and freight hub for the whole of Upper Franconia. The big technology show, which offered heavy-weights such as electric trains, wheeled loaders and a brand-new reach stacker, was a source of amazement for the visitors. And all agreed that the view from the platform of the Schmidbauer mobile crane 75 metres up in the sky was the next best thing to flying!

The visitors applauded enthusiastically as the men and women of the Life Saving Association performed a live water rescue demonstration involving divers, boats and rope winches. A ‘Boulevard of Logistics’ was set up on the central festival square with the focus placed on dialogue: Companies from the various parts of the logistics sector emphasised the many opportunities on offer for training and career advancement as well as what makes logistics such a highly exciting industry.

15 companies based at the port opened their doors to the public – to the delight of the many thousands of visitors, who found out how nationally and globally operating logistics service providers and freight forwarders worked, discovered what links cereals, aircraft manufacturing, computer games and de-icing salt to the port and why skilled craftspeople and the construction industry rely on the port just as much as commercial enterprises and service providers. Many of the visitors walked, rode bicycles and pushed babies’ buggies, using the festival programme to create their own route around the port festival; just as many made on-the-spot decisions: “Hey, let’s go here … and here .. and here again!”

Games, experiments, amazement and lots of fun for the kids
Michaela Wöhrl, the Branch Manager of bayernhafen Bamberg, and her team had put together a colourful get-stuck-in programme for the young visitors – and this programme was enthusiastically received. At the Kinder+Sport Basketball Academy of Brose Bamberg, the local basketball team, the kids had – no surprise – their eye firmly on the ball; they plunged right in to the goolkids’ Fun & Games World, made hilariously creative souvenir photos, bounced and ran around, performed balancing acts, and had fantastic designs painted on their faces. And, of course, what better highlight could there be than to do their Kid’s Train Driving License on a real locomotive under the watchful eyes of a professional driver. Interestingly enough, many of the fathers also climbed on board – but, of course, only to be there in their little ones’ moment of need…

Food, drink, live music by ‘The FabFive’ and ‘I Dolci Signori’ – ‘base camp’ for the visitors to the port festival where they could regularly soak up the sun was the quay behind the festival square, which had been equipped with chairs by the bayernhafen team to turn it into a cosy water-side chill-out panorama. After a little ‘fortification,’ the visitors carried on with their next look-and-do port experience.

“Just like in 2012, the people of Bamberg have shown that they like their port,” said Michaela Wöhrl, Branch Manager of bayernhafen Bamberg, which, along with the inland port locations of Aschaffenburg, Nuremberg, Roth, Regensburg and Passau, is part of the bayernhafen corporate group. “They are really interested and curious and they repeatedly say how willing they are to explore the diversity that the port offers. It is incredibly important for us to show young and old alike through our port festivals the real significance of the ports as cargo and freight hubs for the businesses in our region as well as how the port adds to the quality of life for us all. I would like to thank all of the visitors, the companies located in the port who opened their doors, their partners who made 15 September 2019 into an unforgettable day and all of the members of my team who made this port festival possible in the first place.”