AGP 24th Annual Celebration Dinner in Mobile |
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Registration is open for AGP 24th Annual Celebration Dinner in Mobile in connection with Mardi Gras. Two great events in ONE night in beautiful Mobile!
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Please join us:
Thursday, February 24, 2022
3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Battle House Hotel & Spa
Mobile, AL
The AGP Annual Celebration Dinner traditionally attracts 230-260 industrial, cultural, educational, and governmental leaders. We all come together to celebrate the Alabama-Germany Friendship.
Special Guests Includes:
Sandy Stimpson
Mayor of Mobile
Melanie Moltmann
Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany
to the Southeast of the United States
Greg Canfield
Secretary of Commerce
Nick Sellers
The World Games
Birmingham 2022
Program including recognizing past year's New and Expanding German companies in Alabama, the Barbara Fischer Education Award, and the prestigious Rainer Bauer Award.
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Thank You To Our Generous Presenting Sponsor & AGP Member:
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AGP Young Professionals Event |
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LAST CALL! Join AGP Young Professionals as they kick-off 2022. Their first social event this year is a brewery experience at Birmingham’s newest local brewery. They will be joined by the head brewmaster at Oak Mountain Brewing Company as he takes them on their brewing process through the various stages.
Thursday, February 3, 2022
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Oak Mountain Brewing Company
Please note the tour starts at 5:45 p.m.
After the tour, you will be able to enjoy a flight and select from their 11 own brews. They also have a great menu available to purchase from.
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AGP Reception at GulfQuest Maritime Museum in Mobile |
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Join us for a pre-reception the night before the AGP 24th Annual Celebration Dinner at the GulfQuest Maritime Museum:
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
GulfQuest Maritime Museum, Mobile
A perfect start to your visit to Mobile is the 120,000 square foot GulfQuest Maritime Museum in downtown (only 3 blocks from the Battle House Hotel). The museum is designed to look as if it were a ship headed into Mobile Bay.
Join us for a happy hour of networking, light hors d'oeuvres, and a wine/beer bar. This is a wonderful way to learn more about the people behind the successful port, and economic development of Mobile.
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The event is sponsored by AGP Members: |
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SAVE THE DATE Company Visits in Mobile |
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Registration for follow tours in Mobile will open up later this week.
Please make plans to join us!
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Company tours to Flight Works Alabama, Airbus, and Evonik:
Thursday, February 24, 2022
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Mobile
Flight Works Alabama
An interactive aerospace exhibition and education center. Throughout their education center, they showcase how they “Make It Fly.” Don't miss the flight simulator!
Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility
At Airbus, you will witness aircraft manufacturing at its finest. The tour lets you see how Team Mobile performs the final assembly of A320 aircraft with millions of parts.
Evonik Corporation
We get a special opportunity to visit the oldest German company with operation in Alabama. Evonik’s site in Mobile is a world-class chemical manufacturing facility. State-of-the-art processes ensure safety and efficiency while minimizing environmental impact.
Lunch sponsored by Evonik
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Tour of select parts of the Port of Mobile including the new AutoMOBILE International Terminal.
Friday, February 25, 2022
9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Mobile
As you can read further down in the newsletter while some ports choked this past year, business boomed in Mobile. The volume of traffic through the Port of Mobile’s container terminal hit a new record in 2021, the Alabama State Port Authority announced last month, and container volume jumped nearly 19% in 2021. Learn more about this fascinating flow of a port and how the puzzles come together.
AutoMOBILE International Terminal operates the RO/RO (Roll-on/Roll-off) terminal under an agreement with the Alabama State Port Authority. This brand new terminal was completed in 2021, and the new 57-acre terminal is the closest RO/RO port terminal to the Alabama assembly plants.
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Dankeschön to our PATRON Members: |
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Airbus Mobile Turns to Sustainable Fuel |
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Photo Credit: Business Alabama. An Airbus 320 fuels with a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blend at Airbus’ Mobile Final Assembly Line for delivery to Spirit Airlines. As part of Airbus’ ongoing commitment to sustainability in aviation, all aircraft delivered from its U.S. manufacturing facility will be fueled with a SAF blend on the delivery flight.
As of mid-January, all aircraft delivered from the Airbus final assembly line in Mobile will be fueled with a U.S.-sourced sustainable fuel blend.
The move is part of Airbus’ initiative to develop a “zero carbon-producing commercial aircraft by 2035.”
“Delivering every one of our Mobile-produced aircraft with SAF is an important, iterative step toward solving the carbon challenge,” said C. Jeffrey Knittel, chairman, and CEO of Airbus Americas Inc.
Airbus began delivering aircraft with a SAF blend in November and has gradually expanded the practice. “Henceforth, every aircraft delivered from the Airbus US manufacturing site will have SAF on board,” the company says.
“SAF is a positive contributor to enhanced sustainability in aviation since it enables up to an 80% reduction of CO2 across the fuel lifecycle,” Knittel said. “We are committed to making sustainable aviation fuels an everyday reality with use on an increasingly larger scale, and this announcement is further evidence of that.”
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AGP Member in the News:
Alabama State Port Authority - Traffic Volume Sets New Record
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As some ports choked, business boomed in Mobile in 2021
The volume of traffic through the Port of Mobile’s container terminal hit a new record in 2021, the Alabama State Port Authority announced in January.
2020 saw very slight growth over 2019 figures, despite the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset. But container volume jumped nearly 19% in 2021, topping 500,000 TEUs for the first time in the port’s history. Shipping containers come in various sizes; the Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU), representing the capacity of a basic container, is the standard measuring unit in the intermodal shipping industry.
The terminal’s best year yet came as many of the nation’s biggest ports on the east and west coasts experienced congestion and delays. The Port Authority said operations in Mobile had involved “minimal to no congestion, no vessel delays at anchor, and posted vessel-to-rail turn times within 24 hours” despite the roiled state of the industry.
“Mobile continues to perform, attracting new customers seeking out terminal efficiency, services, and inland connectivity to key US markets,” said John C. Driscoll, director, and chief executive officer of the Port Authority.
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In Remembrance of Rainer Bauer |
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By Don Erwin, Past AGP Chair |
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Pictured above: Don Erwin, Rainer, Anna-Louse Bauer, Rainer Bauer AND Rainer Bauer & AGP ED Tine Hoffmeister
I first met Rainer Bauer when he hosted a reception for an Alabama delegation visiting Germany, headed by Gov. Fob James. Rainer held the reception on the top floor of his headquarters building in Esslingen, a suburb of Stuttgart. Every detail was attended to, including a tour for the spouses of Kessler Sekt, the oldest champagne factory in Germany.
Rainer was the CEO of Bauer Gear Motor, a manufacturer of high-quality geared motors for production lines. The plant and headquarters in Esslingen were quite large, and there was a plant near Munich for smaller gear motors. Rainer’s grandfather, Wilhelm Bauer, founded the company in 1927. While developing worldwide sales for the company, Rainer lived in the US (New Jersey), the UK, and Sweden, before returning to Germany.
Esslingen is a beautiful old town a few miles down the Neckar River from Mercedes-Benz’s headquarters in Untertürkheim. Stuttgart’s city center was largely flattened by World War II, but Esslingen was spared, and its medieval city center is meticulously maintained.
Rainer was born in nearby Bad Canstatt. During the war, his father sent the family to live in Schwäbische Alb, in the countryside south of Stuttgart. After the war, Rainer attended school in Esslingen, then boarding school in Schule Shloss Salem near the Bodensee, and then he graduated from the Institut Montana in Switzerland.
Through his school connections, Rainer built many lifelong friends. Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, was an alumnus of Salem, and Rainer remembers talking with him when he visited the school. A very dear and life-long school friend was Manfred Swarovski, the President of Swarco Holding AG.
About 2000, Rainer sold Bauer Gear Motor to Danfoss, a Danish company.
Doing economic development work in Europe, I was always searching for business contacts, and even before he retired, Rainer was willing to devote time to talk with me about companies with possible projects. He would also give me the backstory on many German business leaders, and he helped me understand German business protocol.
Mr. Bauer opened doors between Alabama and Germany for many years. Because of his dedication and loyal friendship to Alabama, AGP chose to name the “Rainer Bauer” award after him, to honor him, starting in 2001. He received the award the first year, as a German Businessman, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist, who for years, was a friend of Alabama and a constant supporter of the Alabama-Germany connection. This award is presented every year at the AGP Annual Celebration Dinner. Last year's recipient was Secretary of Commerce for the State of Alabama, Greg Canfield.
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Germany’s Baerbock Meets Blinken in First Washington Visit |
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Early January, German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, met her US counterpart Secretary Antony Blinken, on her first visit to Washington, D.C. They had met prior at the G7 (Group of 7) foreign ministers’ meeting in Liverpool shortly after Baerbock took office in December.
Baerlock’s trip to Washington at such an early stage in her term and so soon after Germany assumed the presidency of the G7, leading democratic economies at the start of the new year, underscores the importance of the transatlantic relations for the German government.
"The more difficult the times are, the more important strong partnerships are — and as Europeans, we have no partner stronger than the US," Baerbock said. "With my trip to Washington, I want to make it very clear what great importance we attach to trans-Atlantic relations."
German-US ties hit a low point during the last US administration. The current US government headed by Joe Biden has repeatedly said it wants to restore such alliances to their former status.
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Dankeschön to our SUSTAINING Members: |
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Please help us welcome our new member:
CORPORATE/PATRON MEMBERSHIP
Tilman Bender
Managing Partner
Chris Decker
Senior Management Consultant
Bettina Bolla
Management Consultant
TH Bender is the leading American executive search and interim management company of European heritage and American origin. With a focus on recruiting the first and second management level of the American subsidiaries of overseas-based companies, they recruit Country Managers (CEOs, Presidents, General Managers) and their direct reports, evaluate existing teams, help with succession planning and create successful teams from scratch – efficiently and discreetly.
As an AGP member, you can connect with them through the AGP membership database.
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP
Lutz Hofbauer
Mountain Brook/Birmingham
2022 AGP Membership Renewal Now Open
Thank you for your support as an AlabamaGermany Partnership (AGP) member in 2021! It is so appreciated especially in times like this.
We hope you will renew your membership or become a new member TODAY! Your support will help us deliver new programming and support our ability to connect businesses, organizations, governments, and individuals.
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Did von Braun prophesize Elon Musk colonizing Mars? |
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Photo Credit: Wikicommons, YHN
Did a book written more than 70 years ago by American space pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun predict that a man called Elon would lead a 10-man government of Mars colonies?
This story may not have received much attention except that billionaire Elon Musk is stepping out and being very public about his desire to colonize other planets and has spoken specifically of Mars. The book’s prediction was discovered a few years ago but has resurfaced on social media.
Dr. von Braun authored a book in 1948 while he was at Ft. Bliss, Texas, called Marsprojekt. The science fiction novel was published in German. Three years after Dr. von Braun relocated to Huntsville, the book was published in English by the University of Illinois Press in 1953 and titled The Mars Project.
Dr. von Braun was one of the most influential engineers of the 20th century and served as the first director of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. He was a key figure in the development of America’s space program, which led to the historic accomplishment of landing humans on the moon. Von Braun also envisioned a manned trip to Mars following the excursion to the moon.
His book was highly technical in nature and provided the engineering basis for establishing an “enormous scientific expedition” that involved 10 spacecraft with 70 crew members that would return after spending 443 days on Mars before the trip back to Earth.
The book included 48 chapters describing in highly technical language the construction of three-stage ferry vessels, spaceships, landing boats, ferry flights and general logistics, power plant performance, and interplanetary radio communication.
In the late 1950s, a syndicated Sunday magazine supplement published excerpts from Mars Project. This magazine focused on Dr. von Braun’s philosophies on space flight and the future of humanity rather than the technical details of traveling to Mars.
In 2006, the science fiction novel from Dr. von Braun from 1948, which had gone unpublished, was released by a Canadian publisher of space-related historical science fiction as “Project Mars: A Technical Tale.”
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Former AGP Intern Enjoys His Fulbright Stay in Germany |
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We are so proud of our former AGP intern John Stephen Hutchinson who received a Fulbright scholarship last year. The Fulbright program made it possible for him to work in Germany as a foreign language assistant at the IGS Burgwedel, supporting English teachers in 21 different classes. John Stephen graduated from The University of Alabama in Birmingham in International Studies and German. Picking up a second language makes you unstoppable!
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COVID-19 RELATED NEWS AND RESOURCES |
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Key Information for Travelers to Germany from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Visit CDC Website.
RESOURCES
We have collected a list of resources that can provide information and assistance during these challenging times. You can find them on our website under Helpful Resources.
AlabamaGermany Partnership:
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AlabamaGermany Partnership 1900 International Parkway Drive, Suite 105
Birmingham, AL 35245 www.AlabamaGermany.org
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