Deepening of the Elbe: Schlick restricts access to the Port of Hamburg

Silt in the Lower Elbe endangers free access to the Port of Hamburg. This is shown by research by Panorama 3. Accordingly, the number of shipping police orders restricting navigation on the Elbe is increasing.

The ninth deepening of the Elbe has been considered complete since January 24th. Hamburg and the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (GDWS) released the new maximum drafts on the Lower Elbe. Irrespective of the ebb and flow, all ships with a draft of 13.50 meters can now call at the Port of Hamburg. Drafts of up to 14.50 meters are now possible on the tidal wave. Before the ninth deepening of the Elbe, the permissible maximum values ​​were one meter lower.

But research by Panorama 3 show how much effort the port and shipping authorities have to keep the new fairway depth and width. According to the research, the new target depths on the 120 kilometers of waterway between the Elbe estuary near Cuxhaven and the Hamburg harbor basin are not regularly reached. The fairway fills up with silt so quickly that the dredgers can hardly keep up with the clearing.

“Minor depths” become a problem

So-called “shallow depths” are becoming a problem in the Lower Elbe. On request from Panorama 3 On March 25, the Federal Shipping Administration announced that 91 “shipping police orders” had been issued for its area of ​​responsibility in the Elbe this year due to shallow depths. Compared to the three previous years, there is apparently a significant increase in such orders for 2022. In recent years, an average of around 200 rulings have been issued throughout the year.

With such warnings to shipping, the authorities restrict navigation for ships above a certain draft on precisely designated sections of the route. If the sediments that are blocking a section of the route are removed, the shipping authorities lift the restrictions again.

Panorama 3 there are two “shipping police decrees”. In “Measure 84/22” of March 11, 2022, the Elbe-North Sea Shipping Office, which is subordinate to the federal government, orders restrictions on a five-kilometer section of the Elbe near Wedel due to shallow depths of up to 1.30 meters. “All vessels with a draft of 12.70 m and more” would have to bypass the critical areas or pass with “extreme caution and greatly reduced speed”. Vessels with the “maximum tide-independent draft” (i.e. 13.50 m, editor’s note) and 0.30 meters less “are not allowed to enter the area between buoys 123 and 125 from 1.5 hours before to 1.5 hours after local low water drive on”.

The shipping police order 79/22 of March 10, 2022 restricts navigation to two and a half kilometers near Freiburg an der Elbe due to shallow depths of up to 1.70 meters. All ships with a draft of 12.10 meters and more would either have to avoid the area or pass it very carefully and slowly. “Encounters of two vessels with a draft of 12.10 m and more are in the range […] not allowed.”

Already eight rulings in the current year

The Hamburg Economic Authority has so far issued eight shipping police orders for its area of ​​responsibility in 2022. The trend is also upwards in the port and the direct access routes. Here, too, the reduced depths would have been up to 1.70 meters. Only one decree was revoked.

There are further indications that the fairway in Hamburg is constantly filling up. In an answer to a small question from the left-wing faction on December 17, 2021, the Senate announced that “lower depths of several decimetres can be observed in the Lower Elbe, the Köhlbrand and the Süderelbe”. An HPA report from February 2022 states: “As a result of insufficient sediment discharge, the sediment inventory in the Port of Hamburg has increased significantly since 2014 […]. The consequences are reduced depths in areas used by shipping.”

The Federal Shipping Administration emphasizes opposite Panorama 3that the shallow depths have so far not prevented any ship from entering or leaving Hamburg as planned. The Hamburg Senate emphasizes that the shipping police measures ensure the same level of safety for shipping.

Container ship apparently had to wait for the tide

After research by Panorama 3 However, due to the shallower depths, there were concrete hindrances to shipping. A container ship is said to have been forced to interrupt its voyage near Finkenwerder shortly after leaving the port of Hamburg in the early morning of March 14. The large freighter had to wait two hours until the tide came in, like that NDR a knowledgeable informant reported. The ship was said to have been held in position by two tugs.

Neither the responsible shipping company nor the authorities wanted to comment on the incident. However, delays in February and March are generally confirmed by shipping company circles.

Hamburg and the federal government are trying to remove the silt that is blocking the fairway. However, this leads to new conflicts. Part of the mud, including from the port area, is currently being dumped into the Elbe estuary. The site borders on the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea. So lets how Panorama 3 learned that Schleswig-Holstein’s Environment Minister Jan Philipp Albrecht is considering a lawsuit.