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 upgrade 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 upgrade a success, or has it failed economically and environmentally, as is sometimes claimed? A fact check.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

If areas of the harbour have become too shallow due to silting, we restore the necessary depth for shipping traffic. To do this, the mud is assessed and dredged. Most of it is relocated within the water. A small portion must be processed on land and disposed of.

To ensure that shipping has access to the necessary water depths, millions of tonnes of mud 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.

The River Elbe is subject to currents from two directions: the upper reaches of the river and the sea. Whilst the upper reaches of the Elbe carry suspended matter towards the harbour, the flood washes sandier material from the North Sea into the city. In the harbour, the particles settle to the bottom as sediment.

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.

There is a difference in water level of around 3.80 metres between high and low tide in the Port of Hamburg. We experience this tidal range on the River Elbe several times a day. This process moves large quantities of sand and mud, which are deposited in the navigation channel and in the port.