The Tidal Elbe –
people’s perception of the Port of Hamburg
Dipl.-Geogr. Barbara Weig and Prof. Dr. B.M.W. Ratter, Institute for Coastal Research, Department Human Dimensions of Coastal Areas
How important do you think the Port of Hamburg is for
this region?
Introduction
Perception of the Port of Hamburg
The Port of Hamburg is the largest German port. As an economic hub it fosters
the development of the region; at the same time, its development causes severe
interventions into the ecosystem. Different interests thus lead to conflicts.
Integrated management including all interest groups seems an appropriate way
forward. Management is understood as shaping matters and acting in a targeted
way, including the public, stakeholders and all interest groups in a dialectical
dialogue. Perception studies in the form of population surveys can help to
analyse the preconditions for those management processes [1].
The results of the survey give answers to the following questions:
 Do people consider the Port of Hamburg to be important for the region?
 What do people know about the Port of Hamburg and its future
problems?
 What future do people prefer for the Elbe river?
(cartography: B. Weig, B. Gardeike; software: RegioGraph)
Which future problems do you think
the Port of Hamburg will face?
capacity bottleneck (311)
What do you think could be done
to avoid those problems?
no deepening/ restricting
ship sizes (83)
31.7%
deepening of the Elbe (257)
(inter-)national competition
(131)
16.1%
risk of flooding and
protection measures (65)
9.0%
cooperation & participation
(56)
more flood protection
measures (37)
4.6%
renaturation (36)
4.4%
support economy & shipping
(33)
4.1%
higher attractiveness for
tourists and residents (32)
3.9%
6.9%
alternative economic
promotion (48)
2.0%
no problems (16)
location/ distance to the sea
(14)
5.9%
foster ecological awareness
(34)
1.7%
4.2%
political changes (26)
climate change (4)
3.2%
0.5%
other (26)
more flood protection
measures (22)
3.2%
no answer (133)
0%
10%
20%
other (19)
2.7%
other (47)
16.4%
30%
40%
10%
15%
(m.a.p.; number of answers 905; n=812)
4.1%
0%
20%
percentage of all respondents
percentage of all respondents
(m.a.p.; number of answers 1.105; n=812)
5%
2.3%
no answer (33)
5.8%
0%
50%
9.0%
balance (73)
7.5%
ecological problems (61)
38.7%
9.4%
alternative transportation
modes (73)
8.0%
43.7%
more nature conservation
(314)
10.2%
expand/ build other harbours
(76)
10.7%
economic problems (87)
no more human intervention
(355)
13.3%
deepening of the Elbe (108)
38.3%
What future would you like to see
for the Elbe?
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
percentage of all respondents
(m.a.p.; number of answers 932; n=812)
Method
Conclusion
Population survey (spring 2012)
Challenges for management
The random street survey took place in 18 selected communities on both
sides of the tidal Elbe. It included rural areas and small towns in the federal
states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, as well as four urban
districts on the outskirts of Hamburg . Altogether 812 residents were
interviewed – all older than 15 years of age and having lived in the region for
at least 5 years.
People consider the Port of Hamburg important for the development of their
region. Respondents expect the limited capacity and the deepening of the Elbe
river to be the major challenges for the port. Suggested solutions range from
deepening the Elbe to restricting ship sizes. For the river Elbe, people mainly
request less intervention, more nature conservation or at least a better balance
between economic and ecological interests. Residents want their environment to
remain a living environment but they also perceive the economic importance of
the Port of Hamburg.
The survey was based on a questionnaire which consisted of 33 open and
closed questions. Answers received to the open questions were later
aggregated into categories to allow for quantitative analysis.
The challenge will be to shape the development process together with many
different interest groups.
The results of this survey contribute to a better understanding of public
perception. This is important for implementing effective means of communication
as part of successful integrated management.
Reference
[1] Ratter, B.M.W. & Weig, B. (2012): Die Tide-Elbe – ein Kultur-, Natur- und Wirtschaftsraum aus Sicht der Bevölkerung. HZG Report 2012-4. Geesthacht.
Acknowledgement: We would like to thank the Hamburg Port Authority for the financial support!
Dipl.-Geogr. Barbara Weig (barbara.weig@hzg.de) & Prof. Dr. Beate M.W. Ratter
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht | Max-Planck-Strasse 1 | 21502 Geesthacht
Phone: +49-(0)4152-87-1835 | Fax: +49-(0)4152-87-2040 | www.hzg.de