Germany to invest more in inland ports and waterway infrastructure

Good news about our ports

20 June 2022

The Budget Committee of the German Bundestag submitted their new 2022 budget plan for Digital and Transport which included changes that the BÖB had advocated for in previous talks. Parliamentarians prevented a10 million decrease in the investments for Combined Transport. The sustainable inland shipping programme will also be granted more funds. As for the maintenance of the waterway infrastructure, which has been underfunded for years, an additional €5 million will be made available.

Marcel Lohbeck, Managing Director of the Federal Association of German Inland Ports (BÖB), stated: "We are very pleased by the parliament’s approval to increase the funding for combined transport by €5 million from the previous total amount of €77.7 million and also for the commitment to an additional €5 million for each of the next three years".

The government draft had envisaged a cut of €10 million here. With simpler approval procedures and additional funding opportunities, especially for replacement investments, the funding programme will play an even more important role in the coming years for the further development of inland ports as drivers for the modal shift towards a greener rail-waterway network and for regional value creation.

The funds for the maintenance of the federal waterways are also augmenting by €5 million and providing commitment appropriations in the same amount in subsequent years which is also really good news in view of the scarce budgetary resources for federal waterways in the coming years.

Mr. Lohbeck also added: "A third significant achievement is the increase in financial support for the sustainable inland shipping programme from €30 to 40 million, for which we lobbied with our partner associations from the shipbuilding and inland waterway transport sectors".

Read the full and original article (in German)

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