Elbe deepening and widening finally under way

After around 17 years and many court cases in Germany and Europe, the Elbe fairway dredging project is finally under way

German Federal Minister for Transport Andreas Scheuer, assisted by Hamburg’s senator for economic affairs Michael Westhagemann and several leading figures from business and civil affairs, "pushed the button" to get the deepening work under way on the suction pipe of the dredger SCHELDT RIVER.

In future the draft of the Elbe will be 13.50m irrespective of tide and low water and, on a flood wave, vessels with 14.50m can reach the port of Hamburg. The fairway will be widened from 300m to 320m and, near Wedel, a passing box (Begegnungsbox )measuring 8,000m long and 385m wide will be built, to provide passing space for four large container vessels passing.

Around 40M m3 of material will be dredged. The entire project to completion in 2021 is budgeted at €780M, similar to the cost of Hamburg’s new Elbphilarmonie concert hall, which will be split between the Federal government and the city of Hamburg.

Suction dredger SCHELDT RIVER inaugurated the 3-year programme

Minister Scheuer stressed the importance of the project not only for Hamburg, but also for Germany as an important export country. “Hamburg serves all of Germany and is Bavaria’s seaport," he said.

Environmental groups including BUND, NABU, along with many residents and professional fishermen have again called for the project to be halted. Despite official assurances, It is claimed that dikes, flora and fauna are endangered by the extra flow of salt water into the Elbe.

Olaf Lies, former finance minister and now minister for the environment of the state of Lower Saxony, commented that JadeWeserPort, in his state, is Germany’s port for very large container vessels.

Source: WorldCargo News

Automation fight over in Los Angeles

Los Angeles politicians announce agreement over retraining for ILWU members displaced by automation.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councillor Joe Buscaino have announced agreements relating to APM Terminals Pier 400 automation project that signal there will be no political attempt to prevent APM Terminals proceeding with its plans for automated straddle carriers at Pier 400.

Under the announcement the ILWU, APM Terminals and the PMA agreed to “establish an industry-first technical training program at the Port of Los Angeles” that will retrain and re-skill some ILWU members for new roles.

“In Los Angeles, we know that if we don’t guide the future, workers and communities can be left behind,” said Mayor Garcetti. “This workforce training program will ensure today’s waterfront workers are equipped for tomorrow’s jobs, and continue to support the harbour community. I will never stop fighting to preserve good, middle-class jobs and protect the hardworking women and men who power our economy — and today’s agreement is a start, and not an end, to our work.”

Council member Joe Buscaino was one of the most vocal critics of automation, but he is no longer calling for political action to change the existing agreements and regulatory framework and prevent APM Terminals implementing its plan. Instead Buscaino proposed a “Blue Ribbon Commission”, which will be convened in the coming months “to study the issue of automation and the future of the work at the Port of Los Angeles, and will provide recommendations to Mayor Garcetti and the full City Council”.

“While APM and ILWU have come to an agreement this week, I will continue to support our longshore men and women as they fight to protect jobs and the future of work in the United States,” said Buscaino. “The agreement is not the end of this conversation, but the beginning and I am calling for the City of Los Angeles to create a Blue Ribbon Commission on the future of work and automation in our city. We must prepare for the future today because as this fight has shown the future is already here."

“I’m pleased that we can begin the much-needed training that moves the cargo in and out of the nation’s busiest port complex,” said Ray Familathe, President of ILWU Local 13. “This is a bittersweet transition for our members as we move forward with the extremely challenging issues that affect jobs and our local community. It’s also important that the Blue Ribbon Commission takes a hard look at the challenging issues and comes up with concrete recommendations.”

“This agreement calls for a comprehensive, fully-paid training program to re-skill and up-skill longshore workers to equip them for the next generation of work on the waterfront,” said Jim McKenna, CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association. “This will help longshore workers prepare for the port jobs of the future.”

“We believe that it is critical to the continued success of the Port of Los Angeles that the ILWU is trained for the jobs of the future,” APM Terminals said in a statement. “As we prepare to modernize Pier 400, we are glad to be working in partnership with the ILWU on implementing a training program that complements the changes at Pier 400.”

“These agreements, along with the formation of a commission that will tackle these issues in-depth, are significant steps forward and shows that common ground can be found,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “I’m grateful to our stakeholders for sticking with these months of negotiations and thankful to Mayor Garcetti for facilitating the dialogue.”

APM Terminals now has the task of managing what will be a difficult technology migration at Pier 400. The first six of 130 Kalmar automated straddle carriers are being shipped to the terminal now.

Source: WorldCargo News

No German Betuwe matching track before 2026

The extension of the rail track in Germany, which is essential to meet the capacity of the dedicated Betuwe rail freight corridor in the Netherlands, will not be ready before 2026, the Dutch Deputy Transport Minister Stientje van Veldhoven has told Parliament

The Minister’s German counterparts have informed her that the time needed to securing the building permits is to blame. In January 2017, the revised target date for the already delayed "third track," was set at 2022, so the deadline has now slipped by four more years.

The grade-separated third track, next to the 73-kilometre two-line track between the Dutch border at Emmerich and Oberhausen, an important rail junction close to Duisburg, is still said to have the highest priority in Germany’s national infrastructure scheme, despite the ongoing delays.

The €1.5B German extension is essential to match the Dutch Betuweroute’s capacity of 160 trains per 24 hours. Whereas the Dutch commissioned this dedicated and electrified freight track in 2007, Germany has so far failed to deliver its commitments in the bilateral treaty signed in 1992. At present the line’s capacity for trains into Germany and the Rotterdam-Genoa corridor is limited to 50 train pairs per day.

The Dutch are still investing. The bascule Caland bridge bypass in Rotterdam should open in 2021

The latest news is a blow to Rotterdam port authority. Last November, CEO Allard Castelein sent a pressing "open" letter directly to German federal transport minister Andreas Scheuer asking him for a concrete outlook regarding the long overdue rail improvements.

"Simply pointing out that planning procedures take a long time in Germany cannot and should not satisfy us, 26 years after the obligation to improve the rail link was taken on," he wrote. "Since the financing [for the third track] was agreed between Germany’s federal government, NRW and Deutsche Bahn in 2013, hardly any progress has been made."

Since the Betuweroute was opened in 2007, the Dutch have continued investing in further improvements, including a rail bypass to avoid the Caland Canal bascule bridge in Rotterdam, in 2016. Construction work on the bypass has just started and the project should be completed in 2021.

The Betuweroute starts at the Maasvlakte and should be pumping container and bulk trains into the Rhine corridor.

Source: WorldCargo News