As of: March 20, 2024 10:08 p.m
The northern German seaports must be expanded for the energy transition. However, the National Port Strategy approved by the Federal Cabinet does not provide any financial commitments from the federal government. The coastal countries remain stubborn.
The federal government wants to strengthen German ports. The cabinet has a so-called for this on Wednesday National port strategy decided. The paper is about ensuring that German sea and inland ports continue to play an important role in global transport chains. Almost 140 federal and state measures are listed that are necessary for the expansion and maintenance of the ports. For example, the ports should work together in a more networked manner and be made more secure in order to protect themselves against cyber attacks. The federal government also wants to include the hinterland and expand roads and railways that lead to ports. Who should pay for this, however, remains an open question.
In addition, some ports will be classified as critical infrastructure in the future. The entry of foreign investors should be examined more strictly.
Wissing: “First the plan, then the money”
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing sees the National Port Strategy as an important step towards strengthening German ports. The FDP politician spoke of a coursebook for measures that shows solutions to the ports’ most pressing challenges – about the great opportunities offered by digitalization and limited space, skilled workers and resources.
Wissing had previously rejected the Union’s criticism that the federal government was doing too little for the ports. The federal government remains committed to shared responsibility for the ports, he said. “This also includes the question of the federal government’s appropriate contribution to the costs of the states. What is important to us is: first the plan, then the money. With the common understanding of the port strategy, we can now work on sustaining the high investments and planning to accelerate.”
Janecek: Recognize the role of seaports nationwide
The Federal Government’s coordinator for the maritime economy, Dieter Janecek from the Greens, said on NDR Info that it was good that the national port strategy had set up a process for the first time in which the federal and state governments continually talked to each other about how to better support the ports could become. The issue of financing in times of tight budgets does not remain an easy one, but the Green politician is pushing for greater federal responsibility. After all, the ports would play a key role in the decarbonization of industry, climate neutrality and bunkering with alternative fuels. “There are a lot of new things coming to the ports and there is a backlog of investments. So there has to be a discussion about how we can manage these investments,” says Janecek.
AUDIO: Coordinator: “Ports have been neglected for years” (6 min)
Janecek emphasized the importance of the ports for all of Germany. He expects that this important role will also be recognized in the southern German states. “They protect five million employees directly and indirectly. Without the ports in northern Germany, production in southern Germany is also paralyzed,” said Janecek.
Coastal states are demanding financial participation from the federal government
Even after the resolutions on the national port strategy, the coastal states continue to insist on greater financial commitment from the federal government to the seaports. Nationwide funding and increased compensation for the special financial burdens caused by the seaports must be the next step after this paper has been presented, “in order to take action,” says a statement published on Wednesday by the responsible department heads from Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony , Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.” 400 million euros per year for the maintenance and operation of the ports is the long-standing demand made by the coastal states and the port industry. The federal government is currently paying 38 million euros for all ports through a so-called port load equalization .
Leonhard: “Without ports there is no export nation”
Hamburg’s Senator for Economic Affairs Melanie Leonhard, together with the other coastal states, is calling for financial support from the federal government for the conversion and expansion of the ports. 400 million euros are needed, she says.
“Without ports there is no export nation,” said Hamburg’s Senator for Economic Affairs Melanie Leonhard (SPD). “What is produced in Germany is shipped here and fed into global trade relations from here – and what is on the shelves throughout the republic is imported here.” Over 60 percent of German foreign trade took place by sea. “However, the coastal countries alone are not in a position to independently solve the significant investments in view of the national challenges and tasks of the energy transition, climate change and security,” the statement continues.
Hamburg CDU: Port strategy is a toothless declaration of intent
The CDU in the Hamburg parliament has criticized the adopted national port strategy as a “toothless declaration of intent”. Core questions about the future direction of the German seaports remained unresolved, “so that the Port of Hamburg has no basis on which it can position itself in a new or different way,” said the parliamentary group’s port policy spokesman, Götz Wiese. “There is also a lack of prospects for sustainable cooperation between the ports in the German Bight.” In addition, the federal government is avoiding clear financing commitments. The real winners of the port strategy are therefore the Netherlands, Belgium, the Baltic Sea neighbors and the Mediterranean region.
AUDIO: Expert: Competition among German ports is weakening them (6 min)
Madsen: The importance of ports must be expressed in financial aid
Schleswig-Holstein’s Economics Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU) also demands that the federal government acknowledge that the ports are important for all of Germany. The ports are important for the energy transition and also for exports – and thus for German prosperity. And of course this should also be reflected in higher financial aid.
Read: Continue working on financial issues
Lower Saxony’s Economics and Ports Minister Olaf Lies said after the decision on the national port strategy that he was seeing positive signals from the federal government that the northern states and the coast are seen as what they are: the energy policy heart of Germany. “We are the guarantors of an independent, diversified and equally clean and permanently affordable energy supply. The expansion of our ports is a question of security – and therefore a national task,” said the SPD politician. The countries could not do this financially on their own. “That means that we have to continue to work with the federal government on solutions for financial issues.”
Further information
10 Min
The German port industry needs an efficient hinterland infrastructure, says Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD). 10 mins
IG Metall: Countries cannot manage investments alone
The states are also supported in their demands for binding financial commitments by IG Metall Coast. Without massive financial participation from the federal government in the expansion of northern German ports for the energy transition, she sees black prospects. “This is about the future of industry, energy supply and trade for all of Germany. The federal government is called upon to invest heavily,” said the district manager of IG Metall Coast, Daniel Friedrich. Germany would only remain competitive if the ports were expanded. “The northern German states cannot make the enormous investments required on their own. This is a national task,” emphasized Friedrich.
Seaport companies disappointed by lack of financial commitment
The German port companies have expressed disappointment at the lack of financial commitments in the national port strategy. In order to make sea and inland ports future-proof, an ambitious port policy is needed, the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS) and the Federal Association of Public Inland Ports (BÖB) announced on Wednesday. “However, the cabinet decision made today lacks a central requirement: the means to implement it.”
The seaport companies called on the federal government to close the financial gap in the design of economic programs and in the preparation of the federal budget for 2025. “The seaports have been politically neglected for far too long,” explained ZDS President Angela Titzrath. The federal government must now finally make reliable commitments to seaport financing – for all ports.
BÖB President Joachim Zimmermann emphasized: “An ambitious port policy does not come for free.” The inland ports needed financial commitments from the public sector. “That is why we are calling for the 2025 budget to reverse the cuts to the long-distance rail freight network funding law for port railways and to finally launch a federal-state funding program for the renovation and expansion of water-side infrastructure in inland ports.”
Wind industry: Federal government does not live up to its responsibility
The wind energy industry accuses the federal government of serious failings in its port strategy in connection with the energy transition. Berlin is not living up to its responsibility when it comes to turning ports into hubs of the energy transition, according to a statement from several wind energy associations on Wednesday. “The energy transition has been politically decided by the federal government and represents a national task that threatens to be significantly slowed down without the expansion of the necessary port capacities.”
The strategy presented contains many important and effective measures, but the government “must now quickly create a coherent and stable financing basis for the port strategy that sustainably supports the goals it has set itself from the coalition agreement,” demand the Federal Wind Energy Association, the Federal Wind Energy Offshore Association, the industry networks WAB and Wind Energy Network as well as the Offshore Wind Energy Foundation and the Hamburg Renewable Energy Cluster.
Further information
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NDR Info | Mar 20, 2024 | 9:45 p.m