Call for Elbe deepening

Call for Elbe deepening    Hamburg politicians and businessmen used a visit last week by the giant containership CMA CGM Christophe Colomb to call for deepening the Lower and Outer Elbe river.
   The ship has capacity for 13,800 TEUs and draws 15.5 meters (about 51 feet) at full capacity, and can only call Hamburg “during a certain tide window', said Axel Gedaschko, Hamburg's State Minister of Economic and Labor Affairs
   'Federal authorities have planned the deepening of the fairway and the environmental compensation measures with the greatest of care and competence, the overall ecological situation in the Lower Elbe region will be better, rather than worse, after the realization. In addition, transport by ocean vessel is the most environmentally friendly form of cargo transport,” said Frank Horch, president of the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg.
   Hamburg offers “a very good hinterland traffic connection to Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia, and can also excellently pool our transshipment cargoes with the Scandinavian and Baltic area with feeder services. We are also very satisfied with the productivity of the Hamburg container terminals and the trusting collaboration,” said Reinhard Peschel, managing director of CMA CGM (Germany).
   He added “It is important to us that our ships can put up in the Port of Hamburg with as much flexibility as possible. We also continue to emphasize this to the local authorities and we are convinced that one will make the right decisions to expedite the deepening of the Elbe fairway as quickly as possible.'