[ Globally heeded signal: ]

construction work starts in Altenwerder

After a lengthy tug-of-war a major step forward was finally taken
during the past year. The verdict by Hambur’s Higher Administrative
Court on the extension to the Port in Altenwerder confirmed the
legality of the Hamburg River and Port Engineering Office’s plans.
Thus, there are no more major obstacles in the path of the
construction and commissioning of the 215 hectare cargo-handling and
logistics centre in Altenwerder by 2001. This globally heeded and
long-awaited signal for the Port’s customers clearly demonstrates
Hamburg’s determination to play a key role as a universal port in
the next millennium.
The second major project of outstanding significance to the Port of
Hamburg is the improvement of the Lower Elbe channel. After
publication of the findings of an environmental survey into the
effects of the Lower and Outer Elbe development measures on the Elbe
’s tidal range and high-water levels, there can be no more doubts
that these measures are not only economically sensible but also
environmentally compatible. Moreover, the clear acknowlegement by
the Minister-Presidents of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony of the
necessity of adapting the channel to the requirements of container
shipping has removed any remaining political doubts about the
project. The start of construction work in 1997 will be a further
step towards safeguarding the Port of Hamburg’s competitive
position.
The efforts undertaken by Hamburg and its port operators would have
led to a considerably more positive assessment of the situation at
the turn of the year if competition between the major universal ports
of the North European Continent had been carriee out under equal and
fair conditions. Instead, there has been an increase in the efforts
to improve locational advantages through the use of public funds in
our competitor ports. The result of direct and indirect intervention
by the public sector in the various ports is distorted competition
which opens the door to a race to grant the highest subsidies,
prevents investment financed on a market-economy basis and ultimately
leads to lower levels of prosperity everywhere.
That is why Hamburg’s port economy is expressly committed to
competition based solely on market-economy criteria. One-key
precondition for this is a greater degree of transparency in relaions
between the public sector and the private-sector seaport economy.
What this requires, first of all and above all, is a reinstitution of
the pan-European efforts to complement the competition rules of the
EC Treaty by means of guidlines to control state aid.
The 1996 wage round was characterized by settlements lower than those
of previous years- a reflection of the difficult of the difficult
situation in the German economy at the beginning of the year.
However, given this situation, the 2.1% increase in pay agreed on for
port workers must be placed towards the upper end of what was
feasible. On the other hand, this result has to be seen in the light
of the fact that during the wage negotiations, the union concerned
agreed to enter into a constructive dialogue with the employers on
changes in the way work is organized in German seaports-structures
that have long needed reforming. The aim of these negotiations is to
create a framework which in future allows the following aspects of
work organization to be implemented in German seaports:-greater
flexibility in the employment of workers in relations to the amount
of work available;-inclusion of Sundays and public holidays in the
regular working week;-introduction of working-time accounts in German
seaports;-agreement on monthly wages.
The introduction of these provisions will probably be dependent on
job-safety promises by the employers. The negotiations have already
produced initial results but they still require confirmation by the
relevant employer’s association and union bodies.
These instruments will make it possible for the Port of Hamburg to
take even greater account of its customer’s present-day, and above
all future, requirements. At the samen time, however, this modern
approach-dependent on the respective local form the provisions
take-and the improved productivity it will bring can play a part in
slowing down, though not stopping, the continuing process of job’s
shifting from functions directly related to cargo handling to the
Port’s environs.