Status: 10/17/2022 3:46 p.m
Despite the deepening of the Elbe, giant freighters on their way to the port of Hamburg have to avoid areas that are too shallow. Siltation is a bigger problem than feared. Has the expensive transport project failed?
Nine months after the official completion, there is not much left of the Elbe deepening. Like research of NDR show, one of the largest German transport projects of this century with costs of around 850 million euros is on the verge of failure. The “fairway adjustment” was intended to improve access for large container freighters to the port of Hamburg. In April, Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher was happy in a speech to the posh overseas club that ships “with 20,000 containers” could now reach the port.
Even if the Elbe had been successfully deepened, the truth of this statement would have been questionable, because a ship with 20,000 containers on board would probably have too much draft, unless the containers were empty. The expansion of the Lower Elbe was intended to increase the permissible draft by one meter to 14.5 meters at high tide and 13.5 meters regardless of the tide. Fully loaded super freighters with 20,000 or 24,000 containers usually have drafts of 15 meters and more.
Bund has lowered maximum drafts
But now it is becoming apparent that the desired depth of the fairway cannot be maintained at all. The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) has reduced the permissible maximum drafts on the entire Lower Elbe by up to 80 cm, depending on the type of ship. This restriction applies for a period of “up to two years”. This is tantamount to a far-reaching reversal of the Elbe deepening, even if the federal government emphasizes that the fairway adjustment is “out of the question”.
To the NDR there are numerous warnings from the shipping police, which indicate so-called “reduced depths” along the 120-kilometer stretch from the mouth of the Elbe to the Port of Hamburg. At one point, the shipping administration warns, the fairway is 3.5 meters less deep than planned. This point is only 30 meters from the radar line, i.e. in the middle of the route through which the very big boats drive. Ships with a draft of more than 10.3 meters would have to avoid this point, according to the warning.
Chemical tanker ran aground
The large ships are accompanied by pilots on the journey through the Lower Elbe. They complain that they have to “slalom” “with 400-meter ships” around the shallows. This emerges from a letter that the head of the Elbe Brotherhood of Pilots, the Elder Man, sent to his employees. “On the one hand, it is shown that the fairway adjustment is complete. On the other hand, the depths cannot be maintained,” says the internal paper that the NDR could see. The Elbe-North Sea Waterways and Shipping Office reported in discussions with the pilots’ association that there was a lack of personnel in the areas of sounding, dredging and hydrology, the document said.
That is why there is not enough sounding in the Lower Elbe NDR magazine Panorama 3 more evidence. Shallow depths are marked on so-called sounding plans, which the authorities send to the ship’s captains and pilots. On August 21, 2022, the sounding plan for the Elbe fairway between St. Margarethen and Krummendeich was not up to date. At 3 p.m. the chemical tanker Sten Arnold was underway there. At buoy 63, the not particularly large ship, which had a draft of only 8.5 meters, ran aground. According to the sounding chart, a navigation depth of 11.5 meters should have prevailed at this point. According to the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation (BSU), the ship was stuck for two and a half hours. With the rising tide it was able to free itself and continue its journey “with tug assistance”. The Norwegian owner confirmed that the tanker was not damaged by the impact. The BSU is now investigating the incident.
Even digging is not enough
The accident is significant because of the possible causes. A Hamburg police spokesman said on request Panorama 3 first with the fact that the water police had investigated the case and had come to the conclusion that the underwater hill was the result of “natural turbulence”. That’s why the investigation was stopped. If this is the case, it means that the fairway is clogged with silt so quickly by the natural currents that it is no longer possible to map all the shallows in good time. It is undisputed that the currents in the Lower Elbe have become stronger due to the deepening of the river, driving more material from the North Sea towards the port of Hamburg and tearing it from the steeper slopes into the fairway.
But there is according to information from Panorama 3 also another possible cause. Dredged material may have been dumped at the accident site. This would be an indication of suspected criminal behavior and further evidence that the authorities are no longer in control of the silt removal.
It is clear that too much silt remains in the fairway. According to the authorities, the dredged volume will reach around 40 million cubic meters this year. That is around ten million cubic meters more material than was moved for the Elbe deepening in 2019 and 2020. This means that more is being dredged to maintain the fairway than to deepen the river itself – and it’s still not enough. The WSV has announced that the dredging capacities are to be increased.
Hamburg loses cargo to other ports
The amounts of silt after the Elbe deepening are higher than forecast, the hoped-for economic benefit has not materialized because the Port of Hamburg is losing market share to the competition. Central assumptions made in 2012 in the planning approval decision for the “fairway adjustment” turn out to be wrong. That is why the Greens member of the Bundestag, Stefan Wenzel, who is also Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, is now calling for the planning process for the deepening of the Elbe to be “relentlessly processed”. Critics of the deepening of the Elbe had predicted today’s problems with the silt – including environmental groups who unsuccessfully sued the transport project.
Tschentscher’s predecessor, today’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who governed Hamburg as mayor from 2011 to 2018, was instrumental in driving forward and judicially implementing the Elbe deepening. The project is important for Hamburg to remain competitive and a global port city. “It’s good that the fairway adjustment is now coming,” said Scholz in a government statement in February 2017. Now that the signs of failure are piling up, the blame has begun – the federal government and Hamburg accuse each other of negligence.
“Battle for giant pots – where is the port of Hamburg headed?” runs tonight at 10 p.m. on NDR television. Panorama 3 will also report on the topic on October 18, 2022 at 9:15 p.m.