Use of Inland Ports for Combined Transport, Maintenance, and Sustainability

The Budget Committee of the German Bundestag made decisions regarding the budget of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport in its reconciliation meeting yesterday. Among these are changes that the BÖB had advocated for in discussions with budget and policy makers.

(Berlin) The proposed cut of 10 million euros from the funding program for combined transport, reducing it from 72.7 million to 62.7 million euros, has been averted by parliamentarians from the SPD, Greens, and FDP. The funding program for the sustainable modernization of inland vessels also receives more funds. Additionally, there are five million euros more for the long-underfunded maintenance of waterways. Marcel Lohbeck, Managing Director of BÖB: “We welcome the clear commitment of the traffic light coalition to combined transport. Originally, 10 million euros were to be cut here. We pointed out early on that this would have been a bad signal in the year of the amendment of the funding guidelines and proposed concrete suggestions for counter-financing. We are very pleased that the coalition partners share this argumentation and even increase the title by five million euros to 77.7 million euros, creating the necessary planning perspectives with an additional five million euros in commitment authorizations for the next three years. With a simpler approval process and additional funding opportunities, especially for replacement investments, the funding program will play an even more important role in the coming years for the further development of inland ports as engines for shifting traffic to the environmentally friendly combination of rail and waterways and regional value creation.

That the Budget Committee also increases the funds for the maintenance of federal waterways by five million euros and issues commitment authorizations of the same amount for the following years is really good news. Because there has been a lack of adequate funding for several years, which could only be compensated by cross-financing from the investment funds for the expansion and new construction of waterways.

Further Assurance for Sustainability

A third success is the increase in funds for the funding program for the sustainable modernization of inland vessels from 30 to 40 million euros, which we have advocated for with our partner associations from shipbuilding and inland navigation. The program was already significantly oversubscribed in 2021, and there is also high demand this year. The environmentally friendly waterway only exists in a holistic manner: with modern, sustainable, and multimodal ports as hubs of the energy transition and with inland vessels that further improve their significant superiority in environmental balance compared to trucks.

With the results of the reconciliation meeting for the federal budget 2022, inland ports can therefore be very satisfied. However, we are significantly concerned about the signals regarding the federal budget 2023: At least 500 million euros are missing for locks, weirs, bridges, and other investments in waterways. The parliamentarians will not be able to close this gap. The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance are called upon to correct this in the currently ongoing budget preparation process. Otherwise, essential infrastructure projects will have to be postponed indefinitely or, in the worst case, even stopped. This would render the commitment of the governing parties to shift traffic to waterways, enshrined in the coalition agreement, absurd and would be a setback on the path to achieving climate goals. Furthermore, the condition of many structures would continue to deteriorate significantly, jeopardizing the supply security of key industries.”

Photo: © Loginfo24 / Image caption: MS “Anroma” on the Rhine near Bonn-Bad Godesberg downstream