As a result of the worries that the planned Elbe river dredging would harm the environment, a court in Leipzig ordered a stop on the Hamburg port expansion program.
The Elbe dredging project has been delayed for years over concerns of its environmental impact.
In the official statement, Hamburg Port said that to limit the effects of the channel adjustment on the flora and fauna and the surrounding environment as much as possible, an engineering concept has been developed enabling the hydrological and therefore the ecological consequences to be considerably minimized.
According to europeonline-magazine.eu, opening up the channel along the 60 kilometres on the planned route will make the water flow faster and it would reduce feeding space for fish, the environmental groups say.
[mappress]
Dredging Today Staff, October 18, 2012; Image: HHM/M.Lindner