Baltic Sea storm surge: Damage to infrastructure - is the 2024 season at risk?
The salvage and clean-up work is still in full swing. Experts now estimate that around 2,000 yachts have been damaged, 10 to 15 per cent of which are total losses. Owners whose yachts were damaged during the night of the storm will now be asking themselves whether they can or want to continue their hobby at all.
Even if they answer this question in the affirmative, it will not necessarily be any easier to find a new yacht. Although the order books of some shipyards are gradually emptying, a new build takes time and needs to be financed. Even on the used boat market, which is already only slightly relaxed, finding a suitable offer is not necessarily getting any easier as demand increases due to the number of total losses.
Even if your own yacht was only slightly damaged or at least damaged beyond repair, the question remains as to whether the boatbuilding companies will be able to cope with the expected rush before the start of the season. "We have allocated the last three free storage bays to ships that now need to be repaired, so we are full," says Hauke Steckmest from the Henningsen und Steckmest shipyard on the Schlei.
It is therefore foreseeable that the 2024 season will be delayed or cancelled altogether for many directly affected owners.
But other people who were supposedly not directly affected, who had their yacht out of the water in time or whose boat survived the storm in the water, could also be in for a rude awakening.
Enormous infrastructure damage
During the storm surge, the location of a harbour was the decisive factor in how badly piers, jetties, harbour buildings and other infrastructure were hit. Unprotected harbours exposed to the east, such as Schilksee, Damp or Maasholm, were overrun by the extremely high water level in combination with wind-whipped seas. But even in a supposedly protected harbour such as the Wiking marina in Schleswig in the furthest corner of the Schlei, the wind and water were enough to cause enormous damage. Sometimes there is talk of total damage to entire harbours.
The exact extent is not yet known and the harbour operators are still taking stock. Poulios Polynikis, the manager of the Baltic Sea resort of Damp, who also runs the harbour, reports that the extent of the destruction will have to be assessed once the yachts on top and underneath have been salvaged. The right-hand side of the marina coming in from the sea was hit worse, the jetties on the left behind the entrance were somewhat protected by the harbour master's building. The buildings and sanitary facilities did not suffer any major damage, but the promenade did. The high water here also reached a level of around 2.25 metres above normal.
Piers and breakwaters flooded and removed
Just how relentlessly the storm battered the coasts is shown above all by the destruction of protective structures such as piers and breakwaters. In Kühlungsborn, for example, the transition to the western breakwater is missing. In many places, heavy concrete blocks and stones were removed.
Even in Schleswig in the Schlei, the breakwater was flooded and could not prevent severe damage to the infrastructure and boats. "80 per cent of the harbour facilities are still there, but they are scrap," reports operations manager Björn Hansen.
Power installations damaged almost everywhere
Even in harbours that were not devastated by swell, such as Orth and Grömitz, the electrical systems were affected. Here, the exceptionally high tide was enough to damage pillars, electricity boxes or the electric motors of cranes.
Paths and roads were not spared either: in Burgtiefe on Fehmarn, the boardwalk to Meeschendorf disappeared, in Lauterbach on Rügen, the pavement sank. Couplings to the land of floating houses broke.
Floating docks proved to be a big plus
Harbours equipped with floating jetties, such as Eckernförde city harbour or Marina Baltic Bay in Laboe, were lucky. Elsewhere, such as in Burgtiefe on Fehmarn, elements in the jetty have been missing since the storm, and in Großenbrode one disappeared completely. Dolphins broke off, cleats tore out of jetties. In Lindaunis, electrical boxes were torn off and railings bent. The pictures speak volumes about the damage in Schilksee and Damp, for example.
In addition, some harbour buildings along the coast are currently unusable. In the hard-hit Wassersleben marina, even the entire youth centre was destroyed.
The extent of the overall damage is only gradually becoming apparent in the harbours. However, it is already clear that a major financial and personnel effort will be required to repair the damaged infrastructure by the start of the season.
Berths could be lacking in 2024
Many are therefore rightly wondering whether they will have a berth at all at the start of the season, whether their harbour or jetty will be repaired. The harbour facilities in Schilksee, for example, will probably not be fully usable for Kieler Woche in June, according to marina manager Philipp Mühlenhardt. In addition to the damage to the jetties, breakwaters and harbour apron, the southern approach to the harbour has silted up and will have to be dredged free at great expense. However, Kiel Week is already in the middle of the season.
Financing difficult
Two factors in particular make things difficult for port operators: money and capacity. The vast majority of harbours are not insured for such damage; the premiums of up to five-figure sums per year are simply too expensive. Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer has at least promised help for Kiel's harbours. The amount is still unclear. In view of damage running into millions, it is not inconceivable that berth holders who have not suffered any damage will also face additional costs in the form of increased demurrage charges.
Few experts
However, even if the financing for a harbour renovation is in place, the capacities of suitable harbour construction companies are rare. According to the Federal Statistical Office, there are only 115 hydraulic engineering companies with around 1,850 employees in the whole of Germany.
They are normally working at full capacity until spring anyway. And whether the necessary materials, such as floating docks, can be delivered quickly enough is also an open question. Especially as it's not just the jetties that have to be replaced, but in some cases the entire energy and water supply.
Repair or new build?
There are also many calls for better protection in future for harbours that are unprotected towards the east, which have been badly affected now. Climate experts agree that storm surges will ultimately increase in intensity. So what is the point of restoring the destroyed harbours to their original state, only for the same thing to happen during the next storm surge?
However, if new fortification or protection systems are to be tackled or jetties redesigned, this means additional time and costs.
What to do?
For berth holders in severely affected harbours, the only thing to do at the moment is to stay on top of events, wait for forecasts and perhaps look around for a new seasonal berth. The disputes that are foreseeable if the paid berth cannot be made available because the corresponding jetty is no longer or not yet available again are not even worth thinking about.
Cruise destinations could be cancelled
A completely different aspect could also make those previously completely unaffected suffer. This is because many harbours in Denmark were also severely affected in some cases. This means that some sailing destinations could be cancelled for the coming season, while other harbours, which are already full, could become even tighter. However, from the current perspective, this is probably the least of the problems.
So there are many unanswered questions to which only the coming weeks and months will provide answers.
