Welcome to the HPA's Tidal Elbe information blog

The Elbe hasn’t always had the best reputation when it comes to water quality – in the past, large quantities of pollutants were discharged into the river. In Hamburg, the river’s final stop before the North Sea, the contaminated sediments accumulated. But times have changed.

If citizens do not trust scientific findings, there is no basis for an objective debate. The HPA has also encountered this issue in the Tideelbe region. We spoke to Dr André Schaffrin of ifok GmbH. Together with the NGO ‘Progressives Zentrum’, he has been investigating, on behalf of the HPA, how mistrust arises and how trust can be built.

Whether it’s Bremen, Antwerp, Rotterdam or Hamburg – all ports have one thing in common: to ensure that ships can enter and leave unhindered, excess sediment must be dredged and relocated on an ongoing basis. But how do other ports go about it? What is the same, and what is different?

To ensure that ships can navigate safely in the harbour, it is essential to know how deep the water is. To this end, the water depth is regularly measured. However, if there is mud on the seabed, there is sometimes a layer of mud and water at the interface between the seabed and the water, somewhat like thick cocoa. Can ships navigate through this safely? The HPA is investigating this together with its partners from Rotterdam and Antwerp as part of the ‘Nautical Depth’ project.

One of Germany’s most important infrastructure projects has been completed: the fairway adjustment of the Lower and Outer Elbe, also known as the Elbe Deepening. It secures the future of Germany’s largest seaport. Yet the debate continues. Is the fairway adjustment a success, or has it failed economically and environmentally, as is sometimes claimed? A fact check.

After around ten years of construction, the HPA has completed the Kreetsand shallow-water area, which is one and a half times the size of the Binnenalster. The additional flood storage area helps to regulate tidal currents and reduces sediment load in the tidal Elbe and the Port of Hamburg.

To ensure that shipping has access to the necessary water depths, millions of tonnes of Elbe sediments are dredged from the Port of Hamburg every year. But where does this material end up? Our map shows the current relocation sites in the Elbe and the North Sea.

Every summer, oxygen levels in many parts of Hamburg’s tidal Elbe drop below a level that is critical for fish for a period of time. This can result in fish deaths. Why is this the case? How have fish stocks fared? What impact do our dredging operations have? And what can we do about it? We provide the answers.

The KAISHUU dredger doesn’t usually dock. The large hopper dredger is in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, working to permanently remove excess sediment from the Port of Hamburg. We spent a day with it, accompanied by our film crew.

The HPA Hydro Portal is a new digital tool for viewing, exploring and exporting nautical depth data. It makes it easy to plan and navigate vessel movements safely.

Transporting goods by large seagoing vessels is particularly climate-friendly. However, to ensure that these large container ships can get as close as possible to their markets, waterways and harbour basins must be continuously cleared of excess sediment. With the right sediment management, significant reductions in climate-impacting emissions can be achieved.

Even – and especially – in hard-to-access or shallow harbour areas, we need to know exactly how much water remains beneath the ships’ keels. The echo.1 sounding drone is now helping us with this.