Dear Federal Minister Scheuer,
Your Excellencies,
Dear Members of the Consular Corps and members of Parliament,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to Hamburg and to this reception for the European Green Shipping Conference.
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has a maritime tradition that goes back centuries.
The mural behind me shows the port of Hamburg around the year 1900. You can see trading ships and ocean liners at the piers as well as the docks of Blohm+Voss shipyard.
At that time, the shipping industry was undergoing a fundamental transition.
The construction of sailing ships was stopped and the steam turbines were replaced by diesel engines. That was an advance in technology but a step backwards in terms of the environment.
Since then, many more steps have been taken to advance in both, technology and environmental protection. Ships and engines have undergone continuous development. Today, maritime logistics is the most climate-friendly way of transporting goods over long distances.
In fact, even though 90% of the international transport volume is handled by ship, sea transport generates only 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
With the MARPOL Convention and the climate protection strategy of the International Maritime Organization IMO, emissions in the shipping industry will be further reduced in the coming years.
This is good progress, but we must make further efforts to decarbonize shipping and ports in order to achieve the ambitious climate protection goals that we have agreed on internationally.
The good news is: climate-friendly technology for the shipping industry already exists.
As an alternative to diesel, LNG produces 25% less carbon dioxide, 90% less nitrogen oxides and practically no particle and fine dust emissions. And even more important with regard to climate protection: it can be produced with green power-to-gas technologies.
The Hamburg shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has converted a 15,000 TEU container vessel to operate on LNG. The Hamburg based company Nauticor operates the world's largest LNG tanker. CMA CGM - from our sister city Marseille - has ordered nine large LNG container vessels with a capacity of 23,000 TEU each.
Hydrogen from renewable energies such as wind energy is another possible fuel for climate-friendly shipping as soon as the technology is sufficiently developed for this use.
The shore power technology has already been developed for practical use. In Hamburg, we can supply cruise ships with shore power since 2016 and we are expanding the facilities significantly: by 2022, all cruise terminals and three of our four large container terminals will have shore power technology. This will be the most extensive shore power supply of any seaport in Europe.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As it is shown on the mural behind me 100 years ago, also today shipping is undergoing a technological transition.
We should be leading this development in Europe. Not only for environmental concerns, but also to strengthen the global competitiveness of the European shipping industry in the future.
In Hamburg we believe: our port, the Elbe and the maritime logistics are not just our past and tradition, they are also our future.
With the Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services, the Institute of Maritime Energy Systems, the Maritime Cluster Northern Germany and the German Maritime Centre, the Hamburg metropolitan region is one of the largest innovation hubs in this field in Europe.
Transport over water is not only the most economical, but also the most climate-friendly type of transport.
If we want to bring together strong economy and climate protection, we need green shipping and green logistics.
It is the responsibility of the EU Commission, the national governments of the member states, and the ports to create a good framework for this in Europe.
The European Green Deal and the "Green Shipping Conference" are excellent opportunities for us to set the right course together.
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is ready for this.
Thank you very much.
Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.