The Hamburg Senate has spoken out against the establishment of a liquid gas terminal in the city’s port. Studies by experts showed that the size of the LNG terminal planned by the federal government could not be reconciled with the general conditions in the short term, a spokesman for the environmental authority said on Friday. In particular, the necessary water body development measures and the risk of a far-reaching blocking of the southern part of the port for sea shipping would oppose the project.
At the planned location of the floating platform next to the decommissioned Moorburg coal-fired power plant, large amounts of silt would have had to be dredged away. Hamburg had hoped that the federal government would help. However, he refused.
According to a report by abendblatt.de, the Süderelbe should have been closed to shipping if a refueling ship had moored for unloading. This would have been twice a week, for 24 to 48 hours each time. Hamburg’s Economics Senator Michael Westhagemann (independent) had already pointed out this problem in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG in the summer.
Hamburg had offered itself as a location for one of the four terminals with which the federal government wants to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas. “It is in the national interest that all available floating units are put into operation as early as possible,” Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) said in July. Hamburg is ready to make a contribution.
Now it was said on Friday that the Senate, in coordination with the Federal Ministry of Economics, had offered to examine the stationing of a smaller LNG terminal ship. “Due to the much smaller dimensions, many of the challenges that arise with a large LNG terminal are less,” the environmental authority said.
There were positive reactions from the port industry to the cancellation of a separate location, while criticism of the Senate’s management came from the opposition.
