Elbe: quick dredging required
Restoring full draughts on the Elbe is essential to ensuring smooth flows of goods to and from the Port of Hamburg and its diverse hinterland connections in the global supply chain.
"Although the navigational depth is temporarily restricted, regular shipping traffic is still in place and the shipping companies know how to deal with such situations," says Axel Mattern, executive director Port of Hamburg Marketing.
It was already known when the navigation channel was opened that extreme climate and weather conditions, for example, could lead to an increased accumulation of sediment. Quick solutions such as the dredger and sounding vessel deployed by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) on the federal route are needed.
Mattern: "Now it is the duty of the German federal government to finally react in order to restore the plan-approved draughts. It must urgently make further capacities available for this task." (sh)