From Logistics to Delicacies – Bremen is attracting international investment

Germany’s smallest federal state can look back at the high levels of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), worth 60 million Euros, in 2025. The synergy between high tech and favourable conditions for doing business has been attracting investors from all over the world.

An excellent example of FDI is Arrow Capital Partners, a project developer that is investing in the Ports of Bremen zone. It is in a strategically favourable location beside the main hubs in the roads network and provides access to Bremen's harbour terminals and international maritime routes. Arrow Capital Partners is creating a logistics park there, with three warehouses with a total floor area of 90,000 square metres.

In the future, the logistics park will be used by Blackforxx GmbH, which supplies used forklifts and warehouse trucks. The company plans to create up to 250 jobs there and use the site to expand its business.

Private and federal investments strengthen the Port of Bremen

Another mammoth logistics-related project has been implemented in the maritime port of Bremerhaven by the Danish group Maersk. There, the company acquired a set of warehouses, with a floor area of 66,000 square metres, which had been equipped to handle the very latest logistics and distribution tasks. This has enabled the shipping company to continue on its path towards becoming an integrated logistics group. Once the site has been brought into operation, it will employ up to 300 staff, working in a multi-shift regime. When it comes to Bremerhaven, Maersk especially values its closeness to Northern Europe’s fourth-largest container port and the company's own North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven (NTB), which is only 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the new halls. This investment is also a foretaste of long-term investments worth more than a billion Euros announced for Bremerhaven by Maersk and the shipping company MSC in 2025.

This development has been made possible by federal support measures intended to expand the port infrastructure, which are sending out strong signals confirming the location’s sustainability in the future. As part of this, the German Bundestag (parliament) announced plans to invest 1.35 billion Euros in the creation of a high-performance port infrastructure and superstructure in Bremerhaven, in November 2025. This would also be suitable for military use. 24 billion Euros had already been approved for a hydrogen-testing infrastructure earlier in 2025. All this has put the Ports of Bremen on a course towards the future, in which they plan to take a leading role, both technologically and in terms of infrastructure.

Bremen remains an attractive shopping and gastronomy destination

We’re Northerners and always have been, not just when it comes to logistics but also to Lucullian gastronomic delights: Pinchos, the Swedish restaurant chain, has opened its second German “Pincho Nation” restaurant in Bremen city centre. “We are delighted that we have at last been able to open in Bremen, a city that is as versatile, open and food-loving as our concept”, said Vanessa Politz, Area Manager for the German market.

The Danish retail chain HiFi Klubben has given similar reasons for relocating to the centre of Bremen. It has added Bremen to its Scandinavian presence, as a retail destination covering high-end audio components. Doing so, alongside other retailers that have relocated to Bremen, such as TK Maxx, shows that town centres can be attractive to foreign investments, provided that the location/footfall/setting mix is right.

Sustainable investments paired with high tech

Technologically, the Swiss company Phenogy Europe GmbH has aroused a great deal of interest. The company has set up Europe’s largest sodium-ion storage system in Bremen's Airport City. This battery technology is still in its infancy but promises to be safer, more powerful and more sustainable than today’s widely-adopted lithium-ion storage systems, when it comes to resource extraction. The sustainability transformation is also being driven by other investments, such as by TenneT, the Dutch power grid operator, creating the conditions for Bremen, as a modern location, to engage in climate protection for the long term.

These investments in Bremen – just a few of a total of 40 from outside Germany – prove its continued attractiveness, even in economically-challenging times. The reason for it is the mix of ideal location, short routes, excellent infrastructure and expertise gained over decades – both in the areas of industry and trade, as one of the industrial locations in Germany, and in high tech and innovation.

The positive economic growth achieved in 2025 and growing international interest in Bremen show that it remains an attractive location for Foreign Direct Investments, especially in the maritime trade, logistics and technology sectors.