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Elbe River dredging 'blockade' should be removed: Hamburg port official

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have set up a "blockade" labelled by the Port of Hamburg by holding up deepening work of the Elbe River that was hurting the port and damaging the economy due to the inability of mega-ships to call and leave fully loaded because of draught restrictions.

Joint Port of Hamburg Marketing CEO Ingo Egloff said the objections from environmental and other organisations appeared to have the ultimate aim of scrapping the dredging altogether.

"In doing so, they wholly ignore the damage to the national economy caused by a blockade that has already lasted years and the additional adverse economic effects on the further development of the port and the jobs involved," he said.

Mr Egloff expressed frustration that the vital infrastructure project was being blocked by objections from environmental pressure groups, calling it unacceptable.

Environmental opposition to deepening the Elbe is holding up plans to dredge about 130 km of the river that, once complete, will enable the mega-ships with a draught of 14.5 metres to reach the port, one metre deeper than the current draught, IHS Media reported.

That will enable mega-ships to access Hamburg's terminals, crucial if the port is to remain competitive among its North Europe peers. Container lines are deploying ever-larger vessels on the Asia-Europe trade, a trend that has seen the Port of Hamburg this year handling almost 90 per cent more calls by ships with capacity of 18,000 to 20,000 TEU and above.

The Port of Hamburg's marginal growth in container throughput from January through September was blamed on the inability of mega-ships to call and leave Hamburg optimally loaded. The port handled 6.8 million TEU in the first nine months of the year, up a marginal 0.4 percent compared with the same period in 2016. Of this amount, 5.8 million was loaded containers that grew 1.2 per cent, but empties totalled 924,000 TEU, a year-over-year decline or 4.3 percent.

Axel Mattern, joint Port of Hamburg Marketing CEO, said the downturn in empty box handling was a result of yet to be implemented dredging of the Elbe fairway. "Market research by Port of Hamburg Marketing indicates that restrictions on the Elbe applying to Hamburg, plus limited tidal windows, are causing shipping companies to use available slot space on their mega-containerships for loaded boxes as a matter of priority. Empty containers are increasingly being routed via other ports in Northern Europe," Mr Mattern said.

Mr Egloff said dredging the Elbe was essential for Hamburg and should not be delayed any longer, and he highlighted the benefits of the project. "Higher draft and improved opportunities for passing on the Elbe will offer increased safety and flexibility for traffic control on the Elbe, also producing tremendous advantages for merchant shipping," he said.