Transformation on the water
400 million especially for climate -neutral shipping and ports
The maritime economy should also become climate -neutral one day. The federal government wants to support this with extra million from the climate fund.
In the next four years, the federal government plans to provide 400 million euros for a climate -friendly modernization of shipping and ports. The money should come from the climate and transformation fund (KTF), as Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) said when visiting the Duisburg harbor.
The money is to be used, for example, for the construction of land electricity and bunker systems for alternative fuels and for water routes, over which low-emission ships drive. The relocation of urban business on waterways is also to be promoted. “Details on the funding opportunities are in the development and should be presented in the course of the year,” said the Ministry.
With the promotion, additional revenue of the KTF flows back into the modernization of the maritime economy by integrating maritime traffic into the EU emission trade, said the federal government’s coordinator for maritime economy and tourism, Christoph Ploß (CDU).
Government coordinator: coastal countries are supported more strongly
“The additional federal funds will support the five coastal countries Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with the German seaports much more than before,” said Ploß. But shipping projects and inland ports also benefited. This shows that ports and shipping played a very large role for the new government.
The Association of German Reeder (VDR) welcomed the announcement. “It’s not just about new ships, but also about the necessary port infrastructure and the broad availability of affordable, green fuels,” said VDR President Gaby Bornheim. It is therefore crucial that the funds taken over emission trade flow back into the maritime economy.
Assembly association: Assign money in concrete projects quickly
According to the Central Association of the German Sea Harbor (ZDS), it is important that the funds are quickly assigned to projects. These should drive the structural change of the ports-be it in the field of wind energy or low-emission port, said ZDS general manager Florian Keisinger.
The financing program can also only be a first step, the association said. The association estimates that the investment backlog of the public port infrastructure is around 18 billion euros nationwide. “The urgently required modernization of this critical infrastructure can only be managed by a long -term sustainable financing strategy,” said Keisinger.
dpa
Source: Stern
