HAMBURG: The Czech Republic is prepared to exchange its two port territories in Hamburg for other localities and Hamburg’s officials have offered a place that is more advantageous than the current one, Transport Minister Dan Ťok told the Czech News Agency.
Ťok held talks about the future of the ports in Hamburg today. Hamburg plans construction for the Summer Olympics in 2024 in the place where the Czech ports are now.
The Czech Republic has three port territories in Hamburg. It has Saalehafen and Moldauhafen based on the Treaty of Versailles. The third port, Peutehafen, was bought by then-Czechoslovakia in 1929. The construction that Hamburg plans in connection with the candidature for the Summer Olympics in 2024 would block access to Moldauhafen.
“We have declared to Hamburg’s officials that we as the Czech Republic would like to stay in Hamburg. If Hamburg needs our port territory for its development, we are willing to exchange it for another locality,” Ťok said. The exchange would concern Saalehafen and Moldauhafen.
“Hamburg officials have welcomed our willingness and offered us another territory. They say the locality is more advantageous than the current one. This means that the solution would be beneficial for both sides,” Ťok remarked. Accompanied by Hamburg officials, Ťok visited Moldauhafen and the newly offered territory. “We would get a territory located further to the east. In my opinion it is better because it offers wider development possibilities,” Ťok said.
He stressed that the Czech Republic is interested to use its ports in Hamburg in the long term, certainly also after 2028 when the Treaty of Versailles expires. “The Czech government and the Transport Ministry want definitively to keep the Labe river navigable as a waterway essential to the Czech economy,” Ťok said. “We are taking steps on our part and are holding talks with Germany so that it maintains the Labe navigability at (a water level of) 150 centimeters,” Ťok said.
“Here in Hamburg, we’ve found a good ally because this city, unlike some other parts of Germany, is interested in the Labe river being used as a waterway because it may benefit from it,” Ťok said. The Czech Republic did not invest into the maintenance and modernization of its port territories in the past 15 years. This year in June, the Czech Republic started reconstruction. A new area for transloading of goods is to be built in Moldauhafen.
