Because of a Verdi warning strike, the port of Hamburg was closed to pilot ships for almost two days. Traffic has been flowing again for a few hours.
After around 44 hours of standstill, large ships can navigate the tidal Elbe again and thus also call at or leave the port of Hamburg. According to the Verdi union, the warning strike at the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) officially ended on Friday at 6 a.m. This means that the so-called pilot transfer boats, which bring the pilots to the container ships, for example, started their work again. Without them, ships with a length of more than 90 meters or a width of 13 meters and more are not allowed to navigate the Elbe.
The HPA had already blocked the Elbe for ships requiring pilotage around 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, making the port of Hamburg inaccessible. The next strike day at Germany’s most important goods transshipment center is already on Monday. The Verdi union announced on Thursday in Berlin that it would paralyze container shipping again at the beginning of next week. (dpa)