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Hamburg port looks forward to Elbe widening in New Year

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Next year will see work begin on an important widening and deepening of the 120 km stretch of the River Elbe between the estuary and the boundary of the Port of Hamburg, reports the port authority.

Once works are completed, expected by year end, this will allow easier access by ultra large vessels – dubbed AGF class in German – of over 330 m in length and 45 m breadth, it said.

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A 20 m widening of the fairway between Störbogen and Wedel will create a zone 7 km long and 385 m wide between where AGFs will be able to pass each other, as opposed to being obliged to observe ‘one-way traffic’ as is currently the case for ships with a combined width of more than 90 m.

Deepening of the fairway by around 1 m will also allow such vessels to carry around 1,300 teu more cargo in and out of the port.

The impending improvements are warmly welcomed by joint ceos of Port of Hamburg Marketing Ingo Egloff and Axel Mattern, who note that “our customers all over the world are waiting for that.”

Wishing to carry over that positive momentum into the New Year, Port of Hamburg encourages all parties who since 2015 have been successfully running the Hamburg Vessel Coordination Centre, which offers optimised passage planning for vessels calling the port, to continue their coordinated efforts in order to be able to introduce improved access to the port just as soon as it becomes feasible.