Allocation of funds for the widening of the Kiel Canal also boosts the Port of Hamburg’s competitiveness. At the beginning of June the Budgetary Committee of the German Federal Parliament allocated 265 million euros for the widening of the Eastern section of the Kiel Canal. In April, the committee had already approved 485 million euros for construction of a fifth lock in Brunsbüttel. To speed up the remaining planning and tendering for the widening, the first five million euros should be released this year. The Parliament has committed itself to an additional 260 million euros by 2019.