New National Ports Strategy to increase inland ports resilience to crises in Germany

Good news about our ports

18 July 2022

The Federal Ministry of Transport launched a new directive to establish suitable policy framework to increase inland ports and transport chains resilience to crises.

On June 23, at the Berlin Parliamentary Evening of Inland Ports and Inland Navigation, the central focus was the ports’ ability to adapt to the current crises which had a substantial impact on both the economy and the logistics systems.  

At the same time, the German inland port industry reiterated its commitment to move towards a modern port and logistics economy that supplies industry and commerce with goods and commodities in a safe and climate-neutral manner.

BÖB President Joachim Zimmermann said: "The war in Ukraine has massively increased the pressure on global logistics chains. Supply chain security can only be achieved through the joint efforts of all stakeholders: industrial companies, retailers and energy producers. However, this crisis also revealed some weaknesses in the system such as the lack of equipment and infrastructure as well as a shortage of staff. The top priority of policymakers must therefore be to set framework conditions that increase transport chains’ resilience to crises”.


German inland ports are also calling for better framework conditions for modal shift to rail and inland waterway as well as a level playing field for both modes of transport. Combined transport is indeed an important building block for modal shift especially since the recent disruptions in the rail system showed that rail alone cannot guarantee the security of supplies to industry and commerce. 

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