At yesterday's “German Ports Reception” at the State Representation of Niedersachsen in Berlin, a prominent panel of senators, ministers and state secretaries from the ministries responsible for the seaports of the federal states appealed for federal support for the necessary port expansion in front of 170 invited guests. The core message that emerged from this 3rd joint reception of the German seaports was clear: without functioning ports there can be no energy transition and without joint financing there can be no port expansion.

 After the opening speech by Daniela Kluckert, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport, the Vice President of the Central Association of German Seaport Operators, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Jürgens, reminded the audience of the need to expand the superstructure with reference to the national port strategy.

 “Our ports and the coast as a whole are becoming the guarantors of an independent, diversified and equally clean and permanently affordable energy supply for the whole of Germany. The strategic expansion of our ports is increasingly becoming a question of security and independence and therefore a national task,” said Olaf Lies, Niedersachsens Minister of Economic Affairs and co-host, at the event. “We are assuming responsibility for the entire country here and are proving time and time again that we are able to plan and approve the necessary infrastructure quickly and deliver it on time. However, as a federal state, we cannot sustain this financially on our own in the long term. So we need solutions here together with the federal government. We have shown in Wilhelmshaven, in Stade and most recently in Cuxhaven that we are capable of finding them together.”

 In the panel discussion, the top political representatives of the five coastal states also agreed that the energy transition can only succeed with functioning ports. This is because alternative, climate-friendly energy sources would have to be imported to a considerable extent in order to supply German industry. Port facilities would therefore have to be upgraded and areas made available for the expansion of liquid gas import capacities and offshore wind energy. At the end of the event, everyone agreed that solid, joint financing should also be in the interests of the federal government, not least because all German federal states and the companies based there would benefit from a well-implemented energy transition in the long term.