Rottger Wittern awarded Port of Kiel Prize

Rottger Wittern (64), the longtime managing director of Sartori & Berger, has been awarded the annual Port of Kiel Prize and the Seal of the State Capital of Kiel for his services to the port. The award was made during the traditional annual “Sprottenback” celebration by Kiel Lord Mayor Angelika Volquartz and the Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co KG) Dirk Claus. In their speeches they praised the prize winner as an outstanding personality who had for decades been an exemplary supporter of the values of the Port of Kiel and in particular of the future-oriented development of liner shipping to and from Norway.

The professional life of the prize winner has been moulded by a lifetime’s close association with Sartori & Berger. In 1962 Rottger Wittern joined the company as a trainee. After several years of activity with other concerns in Hamburg, New York and New Orleans he returned to Sartori & Berger in 1976 and was named Managing Director in 1990. As a confidant and partner of Consul Volkert Knudsen in the management of the company he made a decisive contribution towards changing it from a traditional brokerage and shipping operation into a modern maritime services concern. In this, ferry traffic was particularly dear to his heart as a contact for the Reederei Color Line (previously the Jahre Line). The idea behind the Norwegenkai, opened in 1997, was largely the result of his involvement. Latterly active as a representative of Sartori & Berger, Rottger Wittern has enjoyed a well-earned retirement since this year.

Rottger Wittern recognised the potential of sea tourism in northern Europe very early on and has constantly supported the development of Kiel into an important cruise shipping port. Today the biggest and most luxurious ferry ships in the Baltic use Kiel as a point of departure and prestigious cruise shipping companies are closely linked with the port. However, the personal engagement of this year’s prize-winner on behalf of the Port of Kiel goes far beyond the bounds of his professional association with Sartori & Berger. Rottger Wittern has also earned much credit as the founding chairman of the Port Advisory Board, as an active member on the Advisory Board of the Nautical Association of Kiel and as a spokesman for the interests of the port as Plenary Assembly member of the Kiel Chamber of Commerce (IHK).

For many years, Rottger Wittern was also active on behalf of Kiel and the state of Schleswig-Holstein as a member of the Advisory Board and Presidium of the Central Association of German Seaport Operators e.V. (ZDS). Since May 2008 he has been Chairman of the Association for the promotion of the Kiel Shipping Museum e.V. and has been active in this connection for the preservation of the cultural heritage of the state capital.

The “Sprottenback” is a traditional annual social event, staged by the Port of Kiel business community, to which port, shipping and transport professionals are invited as well as personalities like the new Schleswig-Holstein Economics Minister Dr. Werner Marnette. It is however not just an occasion for eating sprats, a Kiel fish speciality. Its main purpose is to facilitate the exchange of experience and information, nurture business contacts and make new contacts.

This is the fourth time that the Port of Kiel Prize has been awarded. Previous award winners were Gunnar Blomdahl, Stena Line CEO (in 2007), Hans-Dieter Nehrhoff, Technical MD of the Kiel Community Power Plant (2006) and Samuil Vindergauz, Line Director of the Lisco Shipping Company (2005).