Five coastal states canvass support at the German Ports reception in Berlin
A panel of high-ranking senators and ministers, state secretaries and state councillors from the ministries of the Federal Laender responsible for the seaports canvassed support for expansion of the ports before 170 invited guests at a reception hosted by German Ports at Lower Saxony’s permanent office in Berlin yesterday. The core message that emerged at the end of the third German Seaports reception was unmistakable: there can be no transition to green power without efficient ports and no port expansion without joint funding.
After the opening speech by Daniela Kluckert, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, Professor Sebastian Jürgens, Vice-President of the Association of German Seaport Operators, warned the audience of the need to upgrade port infrastructure and suprastructure as specified in the National Port Strategy.
Minister of Economic Affairs of Lower Saxony and co-host Olaf Lies stated, “Our ports and the coast as a whole are the guarantors of an independent and diversified energy supply for the whole of Germany, which is also clean and consistently inexpensive. The strategic expansion of our ports is increasingly a question of security and independence and is thus a national task. In that respect, we have assumed responsibility for the entire country and have proved time and again that we are capable of planning and granting approval for the necessary infrastructure quickly and delivering it on time. However, we as Federal Laender cannot continue to fund these projects on our own, which means we have to find solutions together with the federal government. We have already shown in Wilhelmshaven, in Stade and latterly also in Cuxhaven that we are indeed capable of finding such joint solutions.”
Kristina Vogt, Bremen’s Senator for Economic Affairs and Ports, stressed the common position of the coastal states: “The ports play a central role in ensuring supplies for our country and thus for the German national economy. Every year, 300 million tons of goods are transhipped through the seaports in the coastal states. This involves around 1.3 million jobs. In their role as hubs of energy supply and distribution, the ports are also absolutely vital for the transition to green power. They play a key role for the erection and operation of offshore wind parks, which in turn make a substantial contribution towards achieving our climate targets. But the ports themselves are also undergoing a transformation process. Without huge investments in port infrastructure and traffic connections, for instance for the transportation of generators, tower segments, rotor blades and electrolysers, it will not be possible to implement the energy transition successfully. Expansion is essential if we are to exploit the enormous potential of the ports.”
During the panel discussion, the top-ranking political representatives of the five coastal states were all agreed that the transition to green power can only succeed with efficiently functioning ports. They confirmed that alternative, climate-friendly energy carriers would have to be imported on a significant scale to meet the requirements of the German industry. Refurbishment of the ports and the provision of new sites were therefore essential to expand the import capacities for liquefied natural gas and offshore wind energy. At the end of the event, there was a general consensus that an efficiently implemented transition to green power would ultimately benefit all the German states and the business enterprises located there, so that a sound joint financing plan would also be in the interests of the federal government.
“Today’s event demonstrated how port cooperation can work in practice,” concluded Melf Grantz, Mayor of Bremerhaven, at the end of the evening. “The fact that all five coastal states have joined forces to achieve these common targets is a positive and unmistakeable signal for our seaports and therefore also for Bremerhaven. We can now only hope that the federal government reaches a swift decision concerning port funding.”
Media contact:
Matthias Koch, bremenports GmbH & Co. KG
Tel.: +49 471 30901-103, Mobil: +49 170 9619443
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Ralf Johanning, Hafen Hamburg Marketing e.V.
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Sören Jurrat, Landesverband Hafenwirtschaft Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V.
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Andreas Bullwinkel, Seaports of Niedersachsen GmbH
Tel.: +49 441 361888-82, Mobil: +49 1520 9921674
E-Mail: [email protected]
Carsten Lorleberg, Gesamtverband Schleswig-Holsteinischer Häfen e.V.
Tel.: +49 4852 884-19, Mobil: +49 151 42624494
E-Mail: [email protected]