Silting up of the Elbe: Small ports are fighting for every metre of water depth
Marc Bielefeld
· 14.10.2026
Three hours after the floodwaters recede, the drama comes to light. The water gurgles along the banks; the current withdraws from the tributaries, revealing the underwater world of the Elbe. Banks of greenish-brown mud emerge from the floodwaters; furrowed patches of silt and sediment glisten in the sun. Water is still trickling away, and puddles remain. Soon, however, everything has dried up, as if one could walk from one bank to the other. The last traces – gone. The boats have become stuck; like fish out of water, they lie in the mud. In one Tidal Zone a familiar sight on the Elbe as far back as anyone can remember. Yet the problem has now become so acute that, after three or four hours, tourists ask a silly question that isn’t so silly after all: ‘Will you ever actually get your boats out of there again?’
Experts and the authorities had long played down the problem. Now, however, expert reports and, above all, the experiences of recreational boaters show that the situation has become at least as bad as many feared. Due to the Deepening of the Elbe Side channels have silted up, fairways have shallowed and channels have disappeared – apparently even more severely over the last two years than before. The changes are so drastic that sailors with deeper-draught boats face a dilemma. They can barely get in and out any more and have to plan their manoeuvres with extreme precision. Some have bought shallower centreboard boats, whilst others have thrown in the towel: ‘It doesn’t make sense any more – I’m selling.’
“On a puddle of water” to Wischhafen
In Wischhafen on the River Elbe, on this day in May, a dinghy cruiser lies at the slipway – a small, flat-bottomed boat measuring 5.50 metres. Two teenagers who really just want to go sailing. But even they have recently had to practise one particular skill: waiting, waiting, waiting. The water has receded; the boats are stuck in the grass. And this goes on for hours.
Elmar Specht, from Wischhafen, is one of those who know the area very well. He has been sailing on the Elbe since 1980, and has always gone out in all weathers, on boats of just about every size. When new dredging projects on the Elbe for the very large cargo ships were announced twelve years ago, Specht had a hunch: “This won’t go well for long. Even in the past, you often had to sail right on the wind on the Elbe to get anywhere. But a keelboat with a draught of 1.90 metres would soon be virtually unusable.”
Specht bought a dinghy cruiser with a retractable centreboard so that he could still sail in his home waters at all. There are around 30 harbours and smaller club facilities on the Lower Elbe between Hamburg and Cuxhaven. They lie amidst a watery world of unspoilt tributaries and hidden Huckleberry Finn-style jetties set in beautiful natural surroundings. That is precisely what makes the area so appealing, says Specht, yet keel yachts can no longer call at many of these spots. Even where the approach used to be deep, the situation today is: “You can just about splash in on a sliver of water, and even then only at high tide. When there’s a strong easterly wind, it’s all over anyway.”
How and where the seabed in the side channels has changed is only roughly mapped and difficult to work out. The water depths beyond the main channel depend on many factors: where is dredging taking place? When is dredging taking place? Where are the dredgers creating the channels? One thing is certain: sailing on the Elbe has become significantly more of an adventure once again.
One metre less draught than ten years ago
What Specht has observed in recent years has now been confirmed by many sailors. The mudflats and areas around Neuwerk, for example, have changed noticeably, and the Rhinplate off Glückstadt has also become much shallower. Sailors wishing to approach Glückstadt from the south can now barely get through the bottleneck at the Kartoffelloch.
Even out on the water, you now have to be prepared for anything. Specht: “Sailing in open water off Freiburg, I suddenly had just 30 centimetres of depth under the keel, and even that was suddenly gone. There was a pile of mud where you’d never have expected it. And then you’re simply stuck.”
Even the narrow stretch between the bank and the Brammerbank was still navigable ten years ago. That’s no longer the case. All that remains is a gap of half a metre – at high water. Many areas are drying up to a similar extent; water is turning into land. Some recreational boaters report that fruit trees are even growing in certain channels. Once sailing paradises, many spots have turned into no-go zones.
In Wischhafen, a new rule of thumb applies: whereas ten years ago, with a draught of 1.80 metres, you could still get in two and a half hours before and after high tide, today that’s only possible one hour before and after high tide. In other words: to sail as you did ten years ago, you now need a draught that’s one metre shallower.
How the deepening of the Elbe is changing sediment transport
The deepening of the Elbe has long been a political issue. There are disputes, there are legal challenges, and billions are at stake. The City of Hamburg’s reasons for wanting to bring the very largest ships into the harbour are obvious. The economy isn’t everything, but without the economy, nothing is worth anything. Long-standing traditions have been cast aside for this: in the past, ships were built to suit the waterways – today, the aim is to build the waterways to suit the ships. To make the Elbe navigable along the 50 or so nautical miles between its mouth and the Hamburg container terminals, work has been carried out on the river accordingly.
Dredging has been taking place since the end of the 19th century, though on an ever-increasing scale in recent decades. The Elbe used to be around five metres deep; today, on average, it is more than three times that depth. Giant container ships with a draught of 14.50 metres are supposed to be able to pass through at high tide, but still need two metres of ‘clearance’ beneath their keels. In the main channel, the river is therefore around 18 metres deep; in some places, it is said to be as deep as 20 metres or even far deeper. Yet this is precisely the problem, as the constant dredging of the main channel and the dumping of spoil in the nearby Wadden Sea are causing the smaller channels and tributaries to silt up. The Elbe sailing area is up to its neck in mud.
Due to the man-made deepening, the water flows upstream faster at high tide and carries significantly more silt and sand upstream than the ebb tide can carry out again. The English call this ‘tidal pumping’: sediment particles are literally pumped upstream – and deposited where they do not belong.
Even small differences between the speeds of the incoming and outgoing tides have a significant impact on the ability to transport suspended matter. What sounds physically complex is actually easy to understand. In Wischhafen, they have carried out this experiment on numerous occasions. A local resident explains: “When the tide is high, all you have to do is fill a glass with water from the Elbe and watch. You can actually see how the sediment particles collect at the bottom and compact.”
The Elbe is silting up at an ever-increasing rate
The members of the water sports club in Haseldorf, on the northern bank of the Elbe, know full well what this leads to. On the first hot weekend in May, Sven Hagedorn sits on the jetty, scratching his carefully trimmed beard. He is a fisherman and owns a motorboat and two small cutters, which he uses to sail the Elbe.
“The current has become considerably stronger,” says Hagedorn. And many people confirm this. At the Kugelbake near Cuxhaven, the Elbe is now said to flow at up to 6.5 knots at low tide. But the effects of the dredging extend further. “From the Hetlinger Schanze to Wedel, everything has silted up; the rushes have completely disappeared.”
In many places, too, the channels have shifted, and new mudflats have formed. Sediment islands and muddy banks make navigating the side channels a game of Russian roulette. Added to this are effects that have long been known. Because more suspended particles are flowing ever faster, the gills of the young fish become clogged; poor visibility and reduced oxygen levels are the final blow to parts of the underwater fauna. Today, there are significantly fewer fish in the Elbe, says Hagedorn. The smelt population has declined by 80 per cent. And according to studies, flounder, ruffe and vimba have also suffered massively.
Over the last two years, however, recreational boaters have noticed something else: the speed at which so much is shifting. Hagedorn: “The Elbe is not only silting up more severely, but also at an ever-increasing rate.” Meanwhile, the sailors are feeling their way through the remaining channels, navigating their boats blindly past the buoys – and praying they don’t get stuck anywhere.
Combating silting with homemade silt-clearing tools
In the past, flushing locks helped to keep the navigation channels clear. Barges and fruit barges sailed regularly, and in some cases hand-drawn harrows were used. All of this stirred up the sediment so that it could be carried away again with the ebb tide. Today, these tried-and-tested methods are no longer sufficient: the sailing clubs and marina operators on the Elbe are struggling to keep up with the silting up. Particularly in areas where maritime shipping routes are not officially maintained, local residents have to get themselves out of a tight spot, in the truest sense of the word. The method of choice: homemade ‘silt-clearing weapons’, devised and constructed by resourceful club members, largely paid for out of their own pockets.
Water injection is considered the most efficient method. Tucker boats, equipped with fire-engine pumps, hoses and underwater nozzles, creep through the navigation channels and force large volumes of water into the muddy seabed. These mud showers stir up the deposited sediment, whereupon, in the best-case scenario, the particles are carried back out to sea with the ebb tide. In many harbours, such converted ‘silt boats’ are now in use, with patient club members at the helm trying to clear the navigation channels underwater. Metre by metre, they wind their way along the muddy routes in the hope of getting the access channels and side channels reasonably clear in time for the season.
‘Big Foot’ moves up to 10,000 cubic metres of silt
Haseldorf is likely to be home to the most powerful machine of its kind currently in operation: an old, Schottel-propelled Bundeswehr pioneer boat, which was used in the 1970s to push bridge sections and is now known as ‘Big Foot’. The real workhorse, however, is the pontoon at the bow, to which the ‘MasterBlaster’ is bolted – a massive pump that propels 750 cubic metres of water per hour through a pipe system that can be lowered at the stern. To put it another way: behind the boat, 300 litres of water per second are forced through 50 nozzles to dislodge as much silt as possible.
“The pressure isn’t the decisive factor,” says Peter Ruland, chairman of the Haseldorf Water Sports Club and himself the owner of a dinghy cruiser. “What’s important is to mix as much water as possible with the suspended particles so that they can be carried away.”
The ingenious silt-removal boat saves the Haseldorf residents from the worst. Previously, they had commissioned a large professional dredger to clear the channel. That worked, but it cost the club 8,000 euros after eight hours. With their ‘Big Foot + MasterBlaster’ rig, they can now blow around 10,000 cubic metres of silt out of their harbour themselves each year – thereby regaining a depth of around one and a half metres. It took two years to develop and retrofit the water-spouting rig. The cost: 40,000 euros, with the pump alone costing 12,000 euros. A third of this, along with the wages for the labour, came from the ‘Silt Fund’ set up by the City of Hamburg. The rest was covered by the club. “Without the boat and the efforts of our club, the harbour would have been unusable within a year at the latest,” says Peter Ruland. “For us, that would have meant the end of recreational boating.”
The fact that the Haseldorfers have such a sophisticated anti-silt machine at their disposal, however, is a rare stroke of luck. The project only came about because everyone did their bit, because the vice-chairman, Stefan Nickels, runs a bodywork workshop where the vehicle could be built – and because they have a bona fide silt expert in Peter Ruland on board.
Ruland, 64, is a civil engineer specialising in hydraulic engineering. The title of his doctoral thesis was, of all things: ‘Transport of suspended solids by water flow’. Ruland subsequently moved into the private sector and later served as one of the co-reviewers for the last two Elbe river-deepening projects. A true expert in his field. Sven Hagedorn and the others are well aware of this trump card. “Without Peter Ruland’s expertise, we wouldn’t have the boat – and given the bureaucratic madness, we wouldn’t have got through it in the first place.”
Survey plans, water samples and four applications
This brings us to yet another issue that makes life difficult for skippers on the Elbe. In order to be allowed to dredge the harbours and channels ‘on their own initiative’ – and to receive the financial support usually required to do so – applications must be submitted. Many along the Elbe put it this way: water sports enthusiasts have to contend not only with the mud under their keels, but also with excessive regulation and strict requirements.
A leaflet from the Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) is devoted to the ‘application documents for the granting of river and shipping police permits (ssG) in the area of federal waterways’. The documents listed there must be attached to the application – both digitally and in paper form, and in quadruplicate.
This is a first hurdle, but one that still seems relatively straightforward. Furthermore, the authority requires boat operators to provide true-to-scale overview plans showing ‘kilometre markings’ as well as north and current arrows for the area in question. Current site plans and sounding charts of the dredging areas must also be submitted, ‘specifying the riverbed depth on a scale of 1:1,000’, along with descriptions of the measures and ‘dredging maintenance depths relative to NHN’. Also required: ‘pre-calculated volumes of material to be moved in cubic metres’, corresponding figures for the last three years, and descriptions, dimensions and data relating to the floating vessel.
Alongside other requirements, such as entering into a licence agreement with the WSA Elbe-Nordsee and ‘where applicable, obtaining a permit under state law’, one particular point is causing concern. Last but not least, boaters are also required to take and submit water samples. In official jargon, this is phrased as follows: “It is necessary to demonstrate the re-depositability of the dredged material as part of a dredged material investigation in accordance with the GÜBAK guidelines. Sampling must be carried out down to the intended dredging depth.” To this end, a person must be appointed who is responsible for the sampling, along with their contact details and mobile number.
Strict requirements, tight timeframes for small ports
After reading the information sheet, many throw their hands up in horror. They argue that understanding and complying with all these requirements would be a job best left to lawyers, biologists and geologists. Moreover, the surveying alone would incur additional costs. Above all, however, the mandatory water samples are said to be almost unrivalled in their audacity and arbitrariness.
A man from the Süderelbe, who has been wrestling with the permits for weeks, says: “What are they on about? Are we now supposed to take samples of the rubbish they’re dumping on our doorstep?”
Another obstacle: the small harbours are only allowed to dredge during the winter months, when water temperatures do not exceed twelve degrees. When ice is also a factor, the time windows become ever narrower. What’s more, dredging in summer is prohibited for recreational boating. The measures are intended to protect the environment and fish stocks, something everyone along the Elbe supports in principle. However, out in the main shipping channel, sediment management for large seagoing vessels does not impose such restrictions at all. There, professional companies carry out dredging all year round: 12.5 million cubic metres, which costs around 200 million euros a year.
This raises a question: if Goliath has a free pass – why are so many obstacles being placed in the path of the little shepherd? In many places, despair has therefore turned to anger. For many are asking themselves: how much longer can we hold out against silting and regulations?
"You just want to go for a bit of a boat ride as well"
This afternoon, at low tide, Michael Zabel is standing by the Süderelbe. He began sailing in 1974 on a cutter in the Mühlenberger Loch. He went on to helm barges, obtained his licences, and still sails professionally on the Elbe and the North Sea as a coastal vessel captain. In his spare time, he and his wife have been sailing a Dutch flat-bottomed boat for years. Zabel, 66, knows the area like the back of his hand.
He, too, is aware of the changes to the river. As a sailor and member of a harbour interest group, he also knows: “The regulations for small harbours are too complicated; what’s more, it costs too much money to meet the requirements.” What’s more, communication and correspondence with the authorities have been rather ‘sluggish’. Zabel: ‘There are simply different interests at play, and many of them clash. It’s all understandable, but you still want to do a bit of sailing as well.’
Before his very eyes, the water has now completely disappeared. The boats lie in the mud, their hulls smeared with sludge. People on the Elbe have been familiar with this for hundreds of years. But the battle with the mud has become significantly worse today – and is no longer merely a fight against suspended particles.
Read more at YACHT
Book recommendations
Sailing in tidal waters explains the basics of tides and applies them to trip planning. It covers sources of information, methods for determining tides and typical navigation issues in coastal waters. Running aground is also covered. For sailors preparing a trip on the Elbe or in other tidal waters, this book provides the knowledge needed to factor water levels and time windows into their planning.
Cruising Guide: North Sea Coast 2 supplements the basic navigation information with specific details about the sailing area. It describes the River Elbe from Hamburg to its mouth, as well as other sections of the German North Sea coast as far as Sylt. Harbour information, guidance on approaching harbours and details of supply facilities help with planning individual legs of the journey and whilst underway. Unlike the first book, this title focuses on practical navigation within the sailing area.
Are the strict regulations for small marinas a justified measure to protect our waters, or are the clubs being left to deal with the consequences of the deepening of the Elbe on their own? Join the discussion in the comments.
Marc Bielefeld
Freier Autor