When winter weather has the Port of Hamburg firmly in its grip, it’s time for the icebreakers to step in. In this episode of “Wir machen Hafen,” we join the crew of the Johannes Dalmann on their mission on the Süderelbe. With temperatures well below freezing and ice up to 25 centimeters thick, the team ensures that the ice can continue to flow freely and that the dikes are protected from massive pressure.   

The Hamburg Waterways Authority (WSA) and the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) have published the first report on data collection for the recent channel widening project in the Lower and Outer Elbe. In coordination with the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hamburg, extensive hydrological, ecological, and topographical measurements and surveys are being conducted during and after the channel widening project, and the resulting data is being documented as it evolves. 

Unfortunately, in the hydrological year 2025, there was once again less water coming from the Elbe River basin. We provide details on the exact amount and other hydrological parameters in the 2025 hydrological report.

For 25 years, we have been providing detailed and transparent reports on water depth maintenance for the Port of Hamburg. These reports include all dredged volumes, broken down by source and destination, along with numerous analyses of sediment quality, hydrological conditions, and the equipment strategy we employed. This comprehensive analysis takes some time to complete. The report for the year 2024 is now available.

The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest port and the third-largest in Europe. A new "Wir-Machen-Hafen" video illustrates what that means in numbers.

“Healthy Sediments” – under this motto, some 140 international sediment experts from over 20 countries gathered at the 14th SedNet Conference in Madrid. 

Since September 23, the navigable target depth on the tidal Elbe has been increased by up to half a meter. Shipping companies can now factor these new draft depths into their route planning and vessel scheduling, enabling them to transport more cargo cost-effectively and sustainably by sea deep into the hinterland.

Ensuring safe water depths in the Port of Hamburg is a complex task that can only be accomplished if everyone works together. And that includes, not least, our reception team. Our new video shows what a typical day at the port looks like for Steven.

The Society for Ecological Planning in Wilhelmsburg (GÖP) has developed an interactive traveling exhibition on the topic of the Tideelbe. It features a section with traditional informational displays (an exhibition), can be converted into an escape room, and fits into any lobby. This makes it ideal for schools. The goal is for a group inside the cube to free themselves by solving puzzles with the help of teams outside. The puzzles focus on the Tideelbe. This brings knowledge about the Tideelbe—covering flood protection, port operations, tides, and nature—to life in a vivid and engaging way for children in 5th grade and up, as well as other interested visitors. 

More information is available here.

The Kreetsand shallow water area, completed by the HPA in late 2022, continues to attract international attention today as a pilot project for sustainable coastal engineering. As early as 2013, it was a flagship project of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) and won the PIANC “Working with Nature Award” in 2014. Now, a German-American exchange group (GANBASE) from the “pocacito” network, which focuses on “Nature-Based Solutions” (NBS), has visited the area. 

In total, approximately 3 million tons of dry matter (tDM) of sediment were dredged in Hamburg in 2024, about 1.2 million tons less than in the previous year. As a result, costs have also fallen significantly. This is due to improved surface water runoff and reduced sedimentation resulting from increased sediment removal and minimized maintenance dredging in previous years. Our new annual report explains how these factors are connected, what the conditions were, what we did to maintain water depths in the Port of Hamburg in line with demand, and what the next steps are.

Is that still water, or is it already silt? And is it still safe to navigate there? That’s the question people are asking at South America’s largest port, the Port of Santos in Brazil. Three experts from the HPA recently visited the site to get to the bottom of the matter.