HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - Hamburg port logistics company HHLA has reminded the federal and state governments of their responsibility in maintaining the Elbe as a shipping route. "Keeping it free of sediment is the necessary prerequisite for us to remain competitive at all," HHLA CEO Angela Titzrath told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview. She added that there were target depths that had to be adhered to, as well as the maintenance of the fairway.

The basic attitude, she said, must be the same as for the federal highways, for example. "What in the case of roads is the abrasion of tar or the wear and tear of the roadways, in the case of a waterway corresponds to the entry of sediment or even damage to embankments of the fairway," Titzrath said. That's where the federal and state governments need to live up to their responsibilities, he said. "By the way, this applies not only to the Elbe, but equally to the Jade, the Ems, the Weser and other rivers."

The duties also include clarifying the question of where the silt will ultimately be dumped, he said. Reliable, pragmatic solutions would have to be found for this. "The sand, which is what most of the sediment is made of, could, for example, be built up," said Titzrath./klm/DP/he