Merry Christmas!
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (47) promises in BILD: “There is no risk that the Christ Child will run out of gifts in December.”
This week, Scheuer held a joint video conference with representatives from the retail, industrial and transport sectors to discuss how the supply chains can be stabilized against the background of the current challenges, also with a view to the upcoming Christmas festival.
Scheuer to BILD: “We are currently confronted with global bottlenecks and disruptions in the supply chains.”
Not least thanks to our logistics experts, the situation in Germany is less critical than in overseas, Asia or our European neighbors, said Scheuer.
And he gives the all-clear for Christmas!
“All logisticians say: there is no risk that the Christ Child will run out of gifts in December,” says Scheuer Train driver our thanks. ”
BUT: the situation is still tense. Time and again, individual port closings – especially in the Far East – cause waves to move in international goods traffic. Because at first none and when the port opens again a lot of ships arrive.
“I will speak to my colleagues in the Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain so that the water wave there does not spill over to us in a potentiated form. Because Rotterdam, Antwerp and the island ports in particular are upstream of our seaports on the international routes. One must never forget: if only one link breaks, the entire supply chain is broken. “
In this way, the situation at the ports can be relieved
▶ ︎ By coordinating with the port operators at an early stage, the speed of the ships is reduced and the handling pressure is eased. However, very short-term port closings in the Far East repeatedly lead to wave movements in the volume of ships, so that in Hamburg, for example, only 1 in 10 ships on average currently reach their slot on time.
▶ ︎ In the Port of Hamburg, work is therefore carried out on a 24-hour basis, including on weekends, in order to be able to continuously reduce traffic jams and cover peak loads. The existing staff is used flexibly for this purpose, in order to enable the entire port operation to be carried out across the seaport. What the port of Los Angeles is currently being celebrated for has been a practice in Germany for years.
▶ ︎ The railway has also adapted to the situation. DB Cargo currently works almost exclusively on a dispatch basis, i.e. on demand, in order to distribute the container freight by rail from the port across Germany and Europe.
▶ ︎ Already today, trucks in combined transport (i.e. with containers from or to seaports up to 150 km away) are exempt from the Sunday driving ban.
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