Navigational Changes Needed at Port of Hamburg
“The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has expressly underlined the necessity for the adjustment of the navigation channel with its decision today,” says Jens Meier CEO of Hamburg Port Authority commenting on the judgement of the Federal Administrative Court for the fairway adjustment of the Lower and Outer Elbe.
“The navigation adjustments will come, now it is a question of extending the process. We will concentrate on the questions of possible fluctuations of the salinity of the Elbe and habitat protection impact assessment. The requirements of the additional compensation areas are to be taken into account in the planning too.”
According to the port, a project team will be working at full power, but the timeframe required remains in question.
In today’s judgement the Federal Administrative Court stated clearly that the whole planning procedure has no deficiencies and the objections from the environmental organizations concerning the water engineering measures cannot be upheld. The European Water Framework Directive has been adhered to. Only protection of the plant species, hemlock water dropwort, and the substitute areas must be improved, before the measures can be implemented.
“This makes it clear that the adjustment will happen, but we regret the repeated time delay in implementing the measure. Important is that for shipping on the Elbe and operations in the Port of Hamburg nothing will change. Up to now, we have been able to handle the largest containerships; this will be so in the future too. There will be no deterioration,” said Ingo Egloff, joint CEO Port of Hamburg Marketing.