ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen, Like a Phoenix, Rises To Prominence as Hub of Europe’s Chemical Industry

ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen has a hundred year long tradition in the chemicals and processing industry. Located 80 miles south of Germany’s new capital – Berlin – the successful renaissance of this industrial park reflects the dynamic forces that are turning Eastern Germany into one of the biggest chemical sites.

Many turnaround stories about Eastern Germany start with the year 1990 and the story of Bitterfeld is no exception. At the time the Wall came down, Bitterfeld was called "the dirtiest town of Europe" by the SPIEGEL magazine, the result of decades of industrial use and environmental neglect under the communist GDR. But since that time Bitterfeld has become Germany’s poster child of environmental redemption.

P-D ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen is at the core of this important industrial zone. The Park contains 1,200 hectares of land of which only 350 are still available for development. The Park’s 350 companies employ over 10,000 people of which about 5,000 are in the chemical industry. What’s more, over 4.5 billion German marks have been invested in the Park by German, Italian, American, Dutch, French Swedish and Norwegian companies. Another 1 billion German marks are in the pipeline either for expansion of existing plants or for companies that have space under contract and are planning to move in or have already plants under construction, respectively.

The "ChemiePark concept" allows a company to concentrate on their core production businesses while infrastructure and industrial services are supplied as required. Other major advantages of locating in the Park include:

• Strong local and state government acceptance of the chemical industry

• Existing infrastructure of energy, water, waste water, chloralkali, etc.

• A highly trained workforce that is experienced in chemical and related industries

• The highest investment subsidy rates (up to 35% direct) available in the European Community (classified as "Target Area 1")

• A score of local universities and on-site technical institutes that can support a company’s R&D activities (the area surrounding the ChemiePark is home to three renowned German universities and several professional colleges)

• Total labor costs in the Eastern States are about 75% of West German levels. There is also a substantially lower rate of sick employees in the Eastern States.

• Mutually linked chemical production

• Adherence to the highest environmental standards

ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen offers a unique symbiotic supply network of substances and materials to its companies. For example, the high quality synthetic quartz glass maker Heraeus obtains its production constituents, silicon tetrachloride from Degussa-Hüls and hydrogen from Linde. The saline solution generated as a by-product is turned over to the ECI Elektro-Chemie GmbH for recycling. In this manner the partners of the materials network complement each other and set new standards for ecologically beneficial and resource-saving recycling in chemical production.

The Park is managed by a top-flight management company called Preiss-Daimler ChemiePark GmbH, whose parent, Preiss-Daimler Gruppe, is headed by a hugely successful German entrepreneur named Jürgen Preiss-Daimler. A Manager and businessman from the Dresden area, Mr. Preiss-Daimler’s company took over management responsibility for the ChemiePark last December and he has a reputation for both reliability and success in marketing. His company group comprises 24 firms throughout Germany.

P-D ChemiePark chief executive Matthias Gabriel and former Minister of Economics of Saxony-Anhalt says that nearly 2 billion German marks are slated to be invested in ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wofen over the next three years. Of that amount, 45 million marks will be invested in a marketing campaign to continue attracting major companies to the industrial park.

Germany is the world’s third largest chemical manufacturing country, after the United States and Japan. Much of the industry has centered in Saxony-Anhalt that has averaged between 10% and 20% growth annually over the past 10 years, despite periods when the overall economy was barely expanding or even in recession, Gabriel says.

Among the family of companies at ChemiePark are:

Guardian Industries – A US-based manufacturer of float glass and fabricated glass products for the commercial and residential construction industries. Guardian is the world’s largest producer of mirrored glass.

Bayer AG – The well-known German maker of pharmaceuticals, including aspirin.

Heraeus – A German company that produces quartz glass products

Corus – A Dutch company that makes aluminum parts.

Georg Fischer – A Swiss manufacturer of aluminum parts for automobiles

Akzo-Nobel – A Dutch firm that produces phosphorous trichloride and flame retardants

The following is a brief profile of four of the companies that have industrial facilities at ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen:

TDA (Technische Dienste und Anlagenbau GmbH) – Up until 1991, during the days of the GDR, TDA was the maintenance department that served the communist regime’s massive Chemie Combinat (chemical industry conglomerate) that was based in Bitterfeld. Today, TDA is a leading plant construction and maintenance company with over 400 employees. The company has maintenance contracts for many of the industrial plants in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region as well as construction contracts to complete construction of new plants.

TDA is 80% owned by the US holding company, Andlinger Holding. The company works with firms from all over the world, from the United States to the Middle East. TDA specializes in chemical, pharmaceutical and environmental technology plants while its partner, VEA, specializes in refineries.

TDA’s Senior Executive Steffen Jaeger says the company’s strength is their capacity to offer clients a full line of services in one place: engineering services, pipeline construction, maintenance and industrial services.

Mr. Jaeger says that the advantages for TDA in being at ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen are: inexpensive supplies of energy and water, a large pool of highly skilled workers, historical acceptance of the chemical industry by the local community, proximity to a number of private technical institutions and a good quality of life for employees.

Because of the area’s past reputation, the strictest environmental standards are followed. Just two minutes from Mr. Jaeger’s home the new Goitsche National Reserve Park has been developed where residents can go bicycling, walking or swimming.

EVIP (Energie Versorgung IndustrielPark Bitterfeld/Wolfen GmbH) - EVIP (website : www.evip-bitterfeld.de/; email: evip@evip-bitterfeld.de) supplies electricity to all of the industrial plants at ChemiePark at different voltage levels for different needs. The company also can supply steam, natural gas, compressed air and all other utility services that can be tailored to each customer’s individual needs.

EVIP services include:
• Maintenance of power stations
• Consultation
• Engineering Services
• Fault location in electrical cables, using specialized measuring tools
• Network documentation
• Optimizing energy consumption

EVIP is the largest subsidiary of MEAG, the largest electricity distributor in the State of Saxony-Anhalt. MEAG, which is headquartered in the city of Halle, has holdings throughout the state as well as in the Czech Republic and Poland. MEAG’s parent company, RWE, is the largest energy company in Germany.

"Specialized companies can come here and produce very specialized products without needing a major partner to help because all utilities and industrial services are available," says EVIP Managing Director Norbert Baensch. Adds CEO Reiner Engelhardt: "Another factor is the assistance that is available from the ChemiePark management company.

"I think it is important for US investors to know that, at ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen, there is a company that can take care of customer problems and utility needs on an individual basis," says Engelhardt.

Engelhardt cites the example of Guardian Industries. The company works with liquid glass that must be kept at 1,100 degrees Celcius. That requires steam, water, gas and electricity – all without interruption of more than about 2 hours. Otherwise, the glass hardens and that is a serious matter when 2,000 tons of liquid glass is coursing through their machines at any given moment. Such an outage would destroy the plant machinery costing the company $50 million.

"The reliability of EVIP’s provisions for utility supplies was a key reason for Guardian’s decision to come to ChemiePark," says Engelhardt.

By packaging a full menu of utility services that can be provided on a "turn key" basis from one source, industrial customers at ChemiePark enjoy reliable power and other services at low costs.

ECI Elektro-Chemie GmbH –ECI is a producer of chlorine, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen chloride, caustic soda solution, bleaching lye and hydrogen from common salt using modern chlorine-alkali electrolysis of membrane technology.

ECI is a joint venture between Akzo Nobel and the Preussag AG with production sites in Bitterfeld and Ibbenbüren.

Located at ChemiePark Bitterfeld Wolfen, ECI supplies companies on site such as Bayer, Heraeus, Degussa-Hüls AG, Sidra and Akzo Nobel via pipelines with caustic soda solution and chlorine.

Island Polymer Industries – IPI is a subsidiary of American Island Group New York that produces the base or "casting" of photographic film. The US firm bought part of the assets of the giant, state-owned film factory from the former GDR.

IPI produces photographic film base for clients all over Europe, including most of the major film companies.

The film base looks like honey and is made from raw material called cellulose tri-acetate that derives from cotton. The film is produced in huge long sheets 4,000 meters long, 1.2 meters wide, and 120 microns thick.

"The reputation of the region of being polluted has been totally changed now," adds owner Preiss-Daimler. " It has changed completely. If you go around today you will get a totally different impression. The air and water are clean."

"P-D ChemiePark offers plots with or without buildings in any sizes and to every settler at a price of €13 per square meter. You can get in touch with us by phone at: +49 (3493) 798491 or by mail: marketing.chemiepark-gmbh@tpnet.de Your partner to address: Mrs. Beatrix Braune "

For further information, see www.chemiepark.de.—