Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) has just passed a master plan to promote recreational boating – and possibly to score points with the target group shortly before the federal election. But in the greater Berlin area, the plan is currently not working.
There, the association “Spree: publik”, in which houseboat owners and other waterway users have joined forces, raises allegations against Scheuer and the Berlin Senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel (SPD). Both are said to have agreed to change two paragraphs of the Inland Waterways Ordinance (BinSchStrO) – to the detriment of recreational shipping.
“How do you know?”
Specifically, it’s about the Section 21.24, paragraph 6 as well as the Clause 22.24, paragraph 6 the BinSchStrO. Both of them regulate what is known as “unmanned lounging” – that is, the permission to simply drop anchor for a period of up to 24 hours or to moor the boat outside of the berths on the bank. All those who want to make a stopover overnight with their ship without a lot of effort benefit from this.
But now that could change in the greater Berlin / Brandenburg area, the association suspects. Its spokesman, Claudius Schulze, reported that representatives of the water police had already indicated to him in May that “something was happening” that Scheuer and Geisel had agreed on a corresponding change. Thereupon he, Schulze, approached the head of the ice commission of the Spree-Havel waterways and shipping office about a possible change – and he only replied: “How do you know that?” The excitement among boat owners in the region is correspondingly high at the moment.
Talks are currently underway between the federal government and the federal states
In response to a SZ request, the Federal Ministry of Transport confirms that talks are ongoing between the federal government and the federal states about a new version of the BinSchStrO. There is a risk that, due to the regulations, boats would be parked permanently and thus illegally. In any case, the possibility of berthing with his ship outside of fixed places for 24 hours was only intended as an exception, so there is “an urgent need for discussion,” explains a ministry spokesman. A final regulation has not yet been agreed. Rather, a possible new regulation of the 24-hour rule is “postponed due to unanswered questions”.