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at the Forum for the trilateral Wadden Sea Region

Many parts and pieces already existed, some had to be re-vitalised, whilst others had to be newly invented. To name only a few, for example risk management in vessel traffic [e.g. density of vessel traffic (see e.g. dlr.de/Sar-Ozeanog_Bild1.jpg) and their potential for incidents (see e.g. bsu-bund.de/Jahresberichte)], monitoring of ambient noise in the North Sea (northsearegion.eu/jomopans), on green shipping (see e.g. greenshipping-niedersachsen.de) or on green ports (see e.g. greenport.com). This very short list indicates several items vibrating around or having very strong interrelations with the topic of “shipping and ports”. The WSF decided within its working units to work on a “Green Coastal Deal” for the Wadden Sea Region. Thus, “shipping and ports” was a very crucial topic.

The sectors of shipping and ports are important businesses along the Wadden Sea coast, which contribute to socio-economic welfare of the Wadden Sea Region and beyond. For a healthy future, these sectors are facing the necessity of improvements in their sustainability and environmental footprint, also to reach wide acceptance as (still) growing economic sector. Being more specific: more than 5,000 participants at the DNV online conference on “Fuel of the Future” in January 2022 indicated that the notion of climate change and the shared responsibility of the shipping sector (including the entire supply chain) to reduce and minimise e.g. GHG emissions is high on their agenda. Therefore selected Wadden Sea Ports contribute to taking on their responsibility by taking part in the Ecoports and further sustainability certifications, and implementing the associated duties. There are also improvements of shipping safety in order to reduce the risk of marine pollution. The question is, how can we build upon these developments and what adaptation is possible?

Shipping continues to be a source of risk for the Wadden Sea area. There are recent incidents like accidents, near collisions and the loss of cargo (recent example was the loss of more than 330 containers by the MSC Zoe in January 2019) as well as future offshore developments associated with the need for energy transition and increasing vessel traffic. Ports have effects on the ecological system, for instance by dredging and dumping. At the same time, the inscription of the Wadden Sea area as World Heritage site and as PSSA in 2002 requires new attention and awareness. Hence, by signing a Letter of Intent in 2018 the Wadden Seaports show the willingness to reduce the impact they have on the environment.

National and regional governments, the green NGO’s in the Wadden Sea area ("Wadden Sea Team", WST) as well as the Forum for the trilateral Wadden Sea Region ("Wadden Sea Forum", WSF) with its stakeholders perceived rising concerns of the society in the Wadden Sea Region about potential negative impacts and risks. For example, the National Park Advisory Board in Lower Saxony experienced in their membership an increasing concern and requested to take action on improvements within the shipping business. This was seconded by the resolution of the National Park curatorships of Nordfriesland and Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein.

Over the past 100 years many activities for the improvement of shipping safety and the reduction of pollution caused by ship traffic, for example, have been developed and implemented on European and international level. A timeline of existing conventions and agreements as parts of law of the sea (mainly encouraged by major accidents, e.g. EU Erika-Packages) is shown in Annex 5.2 of the "Report on Sustainable shipping and ports at the Wadden Sea - a WSB 35 Information" (see down below) . Thus, the development of the law of the sea integrates general aspects for shipping as well as specific environmental aspects, and installs different communication and discussion platforms as well as decision-making bodies on European and international level (e.g. IMO).

The current developments linked to the topic of energy transition will pose new challenges to the coast and the ports. Increased traffic is anticipated in order to install the required off-shore wind parks and the landing of cables and pipelines as well as the approach of hydrogen bulk carriers in Wadden Sea ports.

These requirements, challenges and problems indicate that an intense and comprehensive stakeholder involvement was and still is necessary in order to find and implement sustainable and viable solutions also to consider the natural environment such as the World Heritage Wadden Sea.

Aims

The general aim of this entire approach was to establish a trustful, constructive and productive environment for the different sector such as shipping, ports and green NGO’s with respect of exchanges and discussions on the developments in the World Heritage Wadden Sea.

The following text provides an overview how the WSF was willing to achieve this aim.

The Wadden Sea Forum with the support of the Wadden Sea Board (WSB) as political body of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation was trying to establish a Trilateral Round Table on shipping. It was envisaged to elaborate on advices about how shipping safety in the southern North Sea could be improved, considering the vulnerability of the Wadden Sea ecosystem, distinguished as World Heritage Site. Fundament of the Trilateral Round Table on shipping was the report on trilateral stakeholder analysis.

In Lower Saxony, a core group of the WSF was currently working on conducting a meeting of Regional Round Table concerning the issue of shipping. The Trilateral Round Table was postponed several times due to different reasons, therefore, within the below mentioned project funded by the DBU, a core group decided to start a new approach on a new level.

The first meeting of the Regional Round Table „Sustainable shipping at the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea” was attended by more than ten participants: German Nautical Association, German Ship owners Association, Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, different Pilot Associations and the Maritime Police. The aim of this meeting was to identify on the one hand complementary structures and on the other hand open dialogue points with regard to sustainable shipping. After three hours of discussion the attendees identified several open dialogue points, which was further discussed and published at the second meeting. The second meeting (RRTNds-2) was scheduled for November 3 either online or as face-to-face meeting. (short summary/presentation)