Dues suspended to boost traffic on Kiel Canal
Low bunker prices not only pave the way for shipping companies around the Cape instead of the Suez Canal. The same development has led to a considerable decline of traffic on the North German Kiel Canal compared to the detour around the cape of Skagen. The route around Denmark is longer and less environmentally friendly, but is free of traffic dues.
The campaign led by five federal states of Northern Germany, the German Shipbrokers Association and the Kiel Canal Initiative has now borne fruit: the German federal government decided to waive the traffic dues until 31.12.2020.
Jens Broder Knudsen, chairman of the Kiel-Canal Initiative, commented: “The suspension of the traffic dues is an important step to restore the competitiveness of the Kiel Canal. It does justice to the importance of the Kiel Canal, which secures over 3,000 jobs in the region and around 51 million t of cargo in the port of Hamburg alone." (mw)