HAMBURG – The Hamburg-based Buss Group acquired the business of SSC Wind GmbH from Wildeshausen with its roughly 90 employees on 01 July 2019. In future, the company will operate on the market under the company name Buss Wind Services GmbH.

With this strategic step, Buss completes its portfolio in the wind sector. To date, Buss had focused on port logistics for offshore wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Buss offers this service both in its own offshore terminals in Eemshaven (Netherlands), Sassnitz and Stade (Germany) as well as at third-party terminals.

In addition, Buss provides extensive services in the onshore wind sector for the maintenance and repair of rotor blades. Buss took over this business from SSC already in March 2019 and due to its all-weather platforms is able to offer the repair service for rotor blades year-round. With conventional platform technology, servicing previously had to be stopped at temperatures below 10°C or if it was raining.

By adding SSC Wind, Buss is positioned in the renewable energies segment as a service provider with a diversified portfolio. In the onshore wind sector, Buss now offers both the installation as well as the service for turbines and rotor blades from a single source. In the offshore wind sector, Buss not only supports its customers in port logistics, but also when it comes to management and the planning of major projects, pre-assembly in the port as well as the installation and servicing for turbines and rotor blades at sea.

Buss Wind Services GmbH management includes Martin Schulz, Moritz Christern and Carsten Tegeler, who already hold managerial positions in the Buss Group.

Martin Schulz: “The acquisition of SSC Wind’s business is an important strategic step for us. Pure project business will therefore be supplemented by important service areas, which we can offer year-round – regardless of tenders for offshore wind farms”.

Moritz Christern: “With SSC Wind’s portfolio combined with the existing units of Buss, we will succeed in establishing a sustainable business model, because wind power is indispensable for the energy transition in Germany”.

To the German wind energy market

Ten years ago, the first offshore wind park in German was connected to the grid. Now 22 offshore wind parks in the North Sea and Baltic Sea with around 1,300 wind turbines and a total output of 6,400 megawatts provide green energy. In pure mathematical terms, 6.5 million average households can be supplied with this power. By 2020, the output, including the offshore wind parks currently being built, will increase to 7,700 megawatts. For offshore wind power, the plan is to expand the output to 15,000 megawatts by 2030, which will double the current capacities.

On land, another approximately 30,000 wind turbines will also be installed. All offshore and onshore wind turbines in Germany together generate an output of more than 53,000 megawatts. This makes Germany the third largest country in terms of plant capacity after China and the US. Around 18 per cent of the total gross electricity production in Germany comes from wind power.

The federal government is planning to increase the percentage of renewable energy in electricity to 65 per cent by 2030. At the end of 2018, renewable energy sources accounted for 37.8 per cent of the gross electricity consumption. Of these renewable energy sources, wind energy makes the biggest contribution.

Information about Buss Group GmbH & Co. KG

Founded in 1920 and based in Hamburg, the group consists of the following business fields: In the field of renewable energy, Buss bundles various onshore and offshore wind energy companies, the Port Services division loads general cargo and offers its customers plant logistics services, the issuing house Buss Capital concentrates on funds and investments in the container sector, Ixocon develops logistics real estate and the shipping companies operate a fleet of modern container feeder ships and bulkers.