The mud has to go

The situation is becoming increasingly difficult for Germany's largest seaport - increasing amounts of sediment are affecting the passage of large ships via the Lower Elbe to Hamburg. The recent, ninth deepening of the Elbe has not yet had the effect that politics and the port industry had expected in the Hanseatic city with the increased target depths.

Right now, Hamburg's neighboring states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein are getting in the way: They want to prevent Hamburg from dumping sediment from the Elbe on a storage area near the Scharhörn island in the German Bight, which belongs to Hamburg. Neither of the two states are currently offering Hamburg any alternatives for transporting more silt in the short term.

The federal government is currently staying out of the undignified federal theater. The Federal Ministry of Transport and the Federal Ministry of Economics would have to implement an overall concept together with the coastal states in the national interest - for long-term disposal of sediment from the Lower Elbe as well as from the Lower and Outer Weser, from the Jade and the Ems.

All these rivers silt up, which worsens the competitive position of German seaports in Europe. "Politicians must approach this problem more pragmatically than they did recently," said Frank Dreeke, the outgoing president of the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS), on Wednesday at the association's annual meeting in Hamburg. “There must be no petty discussion between the federal and state governments on this topic. Above all, the federal government must keep an eye on the systemic relevance of the seaports for the entire German economy.”

In the future, the sediment in the rivers should no longer be perceived as a burden and as a disposal item, it should rather be used for construction, as has long been the case in the Netherlands, said port entrepreneur Jan Müller from Brake, who is also a member of the ZDS presidium . Similar suggestions recently came from Schleswig-Holstein, such as using sediment to build dikes. "We miss constructive solutions in sediment management," said Müller. "Sediment is a valuable raw material."

In the first half of 2022, the German seaports handled around 142 million tons of goods, which roughly corresponded to stagnation compared to the same period last year. Container throughput fell by 2.6 percent to 7.2 million container units (TEU). Overall, the port industry has been slowly recovering since the start of the corona pandemic in 2020. According to ZDS, about two thirds of the seaborne German foreign trade pass through the 20 German seaport locations.

Overall, the port industry is pushing for higher, more constant investments in the infrastructure to upgrade, expand and connect the German seaports. Otherwise there is a risk that they will fall further and further behind in competition with Rotterdam or Antwerp, said Dreeke.

The sum of 38 million euros that the federal government is paying the ports for support is “a joke”. The federal government must ensure that the seaports can be reached by water, road and rail. “We expect a much more ambitious and strategic port policy from the federal government that does justice to our national and European importance. Our neighboring countries are clearly buying the cut from us when it comes to that,” said Dreeke.

The federal government's national port strategy is a good step in the right direction. However, it must be developed and implemented quickly. The German seaports are also essentially dependent on a good infrastructure in the hinterland, said Dreeke. "It is therefore our clear expectation that public infrastructure will be expanded as needed and in line with climate targets, and that the existing infrastructure will also be maintained."

With the currently tense relationship with China, the port industry is pushing for moderation. The Chinese state-owned company's planned minority stake in the operator of the Hamburg container terminal in Tollerort had been the subject of heated debate in Germany in recent weeks.

The deal is representative of the question of how much influence Chinese investors should be allowed to have in the port business in the future. "It is important to avoid ideological discussions and to find pragmatic solutions," said Dreeke, who runs the Bremen port logistics group BLG Logistics in his main job. “We want to continue having trade with China. But that has to be done on fair terms.”

HHLA boss Angela Titzrath, who is also a member of the ZDS executive committee, said: “We need trade to bring us closer, especially in these difficult times. We must absolutely avoid the formation of blocks.” Cosco's originally planned stake of 35 percent was reduced to 24.9 percent after the federal government intervened, so that Cosco would not have a blocking minority in Tollerort.

The Chinese have not yet approved the new business basis. Like Dreeke, Titzrath emphasized that Cosco's participation was never about infrastructure, i.e. ownership of land, but merely about participation in the operating company of the terminal and its facilities.

The new port development plan in Hamburg also deals with all fundamental questions of port management. The economic authority and the port administration Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) gave the draft, which is available to WELT, to the associations involved last Thursday for a vote. The associations are expected to comment on this by the beginning of December. The Senate authorities then revise the plan, the Senate adopts it and submits it to the state assembly.

On a total of 87 pages, the port development plan describes in two parts what the port of Hamburg could look like by 2040. By then, operations should be climate-neutral – in terms of balance sheet – and the port and its central functions should be significantly more digitized and automated than they are today.

The future A26 motorway and a new tunnel crossing through the Köhlbrand will then improve the connection to the port companies. The port development plan assumes a potential of 176.7 million tons and container handling of 13.1 million container units by 2035 for the total handling of the port. For comparison: in 2021 the port of Hamburg handled a total of 128.7 million tons of goods, including 8.8 million TEU at the container terminals.