Baltic Sea: Dredging off the Lippe emergency harbour on the brink of collapse

The harbour of Lippe in Hohwachter Bucht is a popular stopover for crews on their way from Fehmarn to the Bay of Kiel or vice versa. Idyllically situated in the countryside and with an uncrowded beach, the place offers the best conditions for a short break. The only problem is that there is a sandbank about 20 metres from the harbour entrance, which has to be dredged regularly.

As not only 210 berths are affected if the fairway silts up, but the operation of the rescue boat "Woltera" stationed here is also jeopardised, safe entry and exit should always be guaranteed. Following repeated disputes in the past over the financing of the annual maintenance dredging, an agreement was reached in 2022 to declare Lippe an emergency harbour in future. The costs of around 60,000 euros were to be covered by the Schleswig-Holstein budget.

Shift in responsibilities in the state ministry

Schleswig-Holstein's Ministry of the Interior has now put the dredging of the fairway on hold again for the time being. According to the Kieler Nachrichten newspaper, the ministry commented on the development with two brief sentences: "We are working on a prompt solution, which may also include necessary dredging work at the expense of the state. The ministry is in dialogue with the relevant authorities to this end." Another six weeks of inaction have passed since then. But how did this new change of heart come about after everything seemed to have been clarified? Responsibility for the navigability of the harbour access road has changed hands at the Ministry of the Interior. In the past, the Department of Civil Protection was responsible, now the Department of Fire Services is in charge of the harbour. It is part of the new Civil Protection and Regulatory Law Department. As a result, there seems to be a new tussle over the assumption of costs for the dredging work.

Read also:

• Baltic Sea: Lippe becomes an emergency harbour and is dredged
• Baltic Sea: Damp marina not open after all

Hanging game at the expense of safety

Playing with time is not only an imposition for all those affected, but also dangerous. In 2018 and 2019, the country allowed the fairway to silted up once before, which led to a grotesque emergency. A sailing boat ran aground directly in front of the harbour entrance because it wanted to enter the harbour due to a sick child. For its part, the "Woltera" was unable to leave the harbour and so the sea rescuers from Laboe had to come to the rescue. This delayed the rescue by an hour. Fortunately, no one was injured at the time. Patrick Testa-Kreitz from the DGzRS can confirm the current problems:

At normal water levels, the water is now around 1.40 metres deep. The rescue boat 'Woltera' stationed at our Lippe/Weißenhaus volunteer station has a draught of 0.95 metres. With water level fluctuations of around 30 centimetres, which can occur due to long periods of prevailing winds from one direction, it would not always be possible to set sail without further ado - but this has not happened so far. It was only at the beginning of June that our lifeboat was successfully deployed for a catamaran that had capsized in the meantime."

The DGzRS operates the rescue cruiser "Berlin", which is manned around the clock, and the rescue boat "Heiligenhafen", which is operated by volunteers, at the neighbouring stations of Laboe and Heiligenhafen. Depending on the weather conditions and the location, the arrival of these rescue units in Hohwacht Bay off Lippe may be delayed compared to the "Woltera" stationed on site. We can only hope that there will not be another emergency off the harbour of refuge.