SHARE
COPY LINK

TRADE

Giant cargo ships head to Hamburg after river vote

A project to deepen more than 130 kilometres of the River Elbe so giant cargo ships can reach Hamburg harbour is likely to go ahead after a crucial vote – although environmentalists have vowed to challenge the decision in court.

Giant cargo ships head to Hamburg after river vote
Photo: DPA

The project is designed to enable ships with a draught of 14.5 metres to enter Hamburg harbour – the limit is currently 13.5 metres. It is expected to cost around €385 million.

Tuesday’s vote in favour from the state parliament of Lower Saxony meant that politicians hoping to see a boost to the north German region’s economy have all their ducks in a row for the project which has been the subject of wrangling for years.

“The whole north German region will profit from this in the end,” Hamburg’s mayor Olaf Scholz told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

But, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily reported, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) will make an emergency appeal to the Federal Administrative Court to stop the dredgers. They say there is enough evidence to show that the project would irreversibly damage the area’s ecosystem.

“What we need now is more public involvement,” BUND spokesman Paul Schmid told the paper. Communities living on the riverbanks have not been taken into consideration, he added.

One of the main reasons for deepening the river is so that new cargo ships will be able to pass from the North Sea to Hamburg harbour.

The biggest ships, up to 350 metres long and 46 metres wide cannot yet be dealt with at the harbour, hindering its business.

Harbour managers say hundreds of thousands of jobs would be created if construction goes ahead, and warned of large losses otherwise.

EU gave the project the go-ahead last December despite protest from nature-protection groups. States which would be affected by the 136-kilometre stretch of water that will be deepened were asked to vote.

Schleswig-Holstein voted in favour immediately, but it has taken until now for Lower Saxony to make a decision.

The Green Party opposes the idea, and claimed that costs would likely rise once work starts, to around €630 million.

The Local/jcw

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRANSPORT

Copenhagen Metro lines reopen after two-week closure

Lines M3 and M4 of the Copenhagen Metro are back in service having reopened on Sunday, one day ahead of schedule.

Copenhagen Metro lines reopen after two-week closure

The two lines had been closed so that the Metro can run test operations before opening five new stations on the M4 line this summer.

The tests, which began on February 10th, are now done and the lines were running again as of Sunday evening, a day ahead of the original planned reopening on Monday February 26th.

“We are very pleased to be able to welcome our passengers on to our two lines M3 and M4,” head of operations with the Metro Søren Boysen said.

“The whole test procedure exceeded all expectations and went faster than expected and we can therefore get a head start on our reopening now,” he said.

Time set aside for potential repeat tests was not needed in the event, allowing the test closures to be completed ahead of time.

“Several of our many tests went better than expected and we have therefore not used all the time we needed for extra tests,” Boysen said.

The two lines serve around one million passengers every week, according to the Metro company.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen city government greenlights extension to Metro line

The new stops on the M4 line will be located south of central Copenhagen in the Valby and Sydhavn areas. The will have the names Haveholmen, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen, Mozarts Plads and København Syd (Copenhagen South).

The M3 and M4 lines, the newer sections of the Metro, opened in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

SHOW COMMENTS