Ems barrier
The Ems Barrage is a large-scale water management structure for coastal protection on the Unterems near Emden in East Frisia . It was built between 1998 and 2002 between the villages of Gandersum on the north bank and Nendorp on the south bank of the Ems . The distance between the main dikes on both sides of the Ems is 1,040 meters, the total length of the structure 476 meters with seven flow openings. The main navigation opening in the course of the previous fairway has a width of 60 meters. The construction costs amounted to around 223.6 million euros. It is not just a storm surge barrier , because it is also used - especially when large shipyard ships are transferred between the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg and the North Sea - to damming up the water of the Ems and thereby producing the necessary transfer water level.
business
The Ems Barrage is operated by the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation (NLWKN), Aurich branch. Ensuring storm surge protection is a purely national task; Ship transfers are carried out in coordination with the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV).
Gate locks
The Ems barrier has a main and an inland waterway opening as well as five non-navigable secondary openings. The 60-meter-wide main shipping opening is closed by a rotating segment gate, the design of which is borrowed from the gates of the British Thames barrier . This gate is moved by two hydraulic cylinders; Water ballast and floats allow the closure body to be in a 180 ° position. When open, the door is housed in a jamb and can be driven over by all ships without height restrictions.
The 50 meter wide inland waterway opening is closed by a segment gate, the structure of which is similar to the gates of the Huntes barrier in Elsfleth . When open, the door stands horizontally above the Ems and is lowered into the closed position by means of hydraulics. This opening can only be entered by ( inland ) ships that do not exceed a height dependent on the water level (5.25 meters above mean tide high water ). In addition, it can only be navigated upstream (in an easterly direction).
The secondary openings (50.0 or 63.5 meters opening width) are closed by lifting gates. The barrier can be closed within 30 minutes; after 45 minutes all openings are free again.
tasks
Coastal defense
The Ems Barrage is intended to improve protection against storm surges . When the barrage is closed, flood levels of over 3.7 m above sea level caused by storm surges . NHN prevented from advancing upstream into the Emslauf. The Leda - Jümme area , which until 2002 was protected solely by the Leda barrage, which was commissioned in 1954 and is obsolete in terms of security , is also included in the protection provided by the Ems barrage. However, the Ems dyke behind the barrage must still be preserved and maintained for safety reasons.
Storm surges swept with the Ems Barrage so far:
| date | Name of the storm surge | Water level
in mNHN |
category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/01/2006 | 5. All Saints Flood | 5.51 | very difficult |
| 01/12/2007 | Volkhold flood | 4.37 | heavy |
| 01/19/2007 | Marius flood | 3.80 | light |
| 03/18/2007 | Cyrillic flood | 4.30 | heavy |
| 11/09/2007 | Theodorus flood | 5.01 | very difficult |
| 03/01/2008 | Albinus flood | 4.59 | heavy |
| 05.12.2013 | 1. Nicholas flood | 5.30 | very difficult |
| December 06, 2013 | 2. Nicholas flood | 4.90 | very difficult |
| 10/22/2014 | Ingbert flood | 4.62 | very difficult |
| 11/01/2015 | Hyginus | 4.26 | heavy |
| 01/14/2017 | Felix flood | 3.60 | light |
| October 29, 2017 | Ermine flood | 4.21 | heavy |
| 08/01/2019 | Gudula | 4.22 | heavy |
Damming for ship overpasses
In order to provide the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg with a reliable route to the North Sea for its large shipbuilding (currently especially cruise ships ), the Ems barrage offers the possibility of damming the Ems for the transfer of ships with a draft of up to 8.5 meters.
Once the ships have reached a sufficiently deep fairway , the congestion is released again and the ship passes through after the water level difference has been compensated for. In this function, the Ems barrage roughly corresponds to a water lock .
- In the planning approval decision of August 1998 , the following traffic jam times and heights were specified:
- all year round up to a water level of + 1.75 m above sea level for a maximum of 12 hours (so-called "summer traffic jam")
- from 16 September to 14 March up to a water level of +2.7 m above sea level for a maximum of 52 hours (so-called "winter traffic jam")
- In September 2014 , the NLWKN approved an application from the Emsland district to extend the so-called winter traffic jam (maximum water level NHN +2.7 m, maximum traffic time 52 hours) until March 31 of each year. The summer congestion conditions (maximum water level NHN +1.75 m) now applied from April 1st to September 15th of each year for up to twelve hours of accumulation time.
- Due to another change in the heights and times of the congestion, the following congestion boundary conditions have been in effect since April 2019 , limited to the years 2020 to 2029:
- from April 1st to June 15th up to a water level of + 1.75 m above sea level for a maximum of 12 hours
- from June 16 to September 15 up to a height of +1.9 m above sea level for a maximum of 12 hours
- from 16 September to 31 March up to a height of +2.7 m above sea level for a maximum of 52 hours
- The maximum closing time of 104 hours may not be exceeded in a calendar year.
Dispute over summer congestion
Until 2009, according to the planning approval decision of 1998 during the summer half-year (March 15 to September 15) a maximum congestion period of twelve hours was permitted up to a water level of at most sea level +1.75 meters.
In April 2009, the NLWKN, as the competent licensing authority, approved the damming of the river for overpasses in June 2009 and again in July 2011. After that, 2.2 m above sea level were. NHN water level possible for 25 hours. The state of Lower Saxony should pay EUR 500,000 for compensatory measures to protect endangered birds on the floodplain. The WWF saw this as a violation of European bird protection regulations. In May 2009, environmental associations filed a lawsuit against the decision on summer traffic jams at the Oldenburg Administrative Court : 500 hectares in bird sanctuaries would be flooded by summer traffic jams, at least 1,000 young birds would drown and enclosures would be destroyed. A community of heirs withdrew their previous urgent application. The environmental associations and the shipyard agreed on a compromise.
In 2012, the NLWKN approved two more summer traffic jams for the shipyard's cruise ship transfers in September 2012 and 2014. BUND , NABU and WWF criticized this as “slice-by-slice removal of environmental regulations” and called for the Ems to be rehabilitated. However, both options were dropped and the ships were transferred outside of the summer traffic jam.
Accidents
On March 7, 2003, the passenger ship Spiekeroog II collided with the Ems barrier in thick fog . The ship and barrage were damaged and had to be repaired.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Meyer-Werft: Containerschiff Eilbek ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 4, 2009
- ↑ District government Weser-Ems: Plan approval decision for the Ems barrage and embedding . Oldenburg August 12, 1998.
- ↑ Ems Barrage: Winter dust conditions also apply until the end of March , 4th September 2014
- ↑ NLWKN Directorate: Plan approval decision for a temporary change to ancillary provision A.II.1.22 and A.II.2.2.1 of the plan approval decision for the Ems Barrage . Oldenburg April 12, 2019.
- ↑ Benjamin Klare: More draft on the Ems River can be dammed higher for cruise ships in summer . In: Daily port report of May 8, 2019, p. 1
- ↑ a b Abendblatt : Decision for Jobs: The Ems will also be dammed in the summer , April 8, 2009
- ↑ Abendblatt : Lawsuit against the summer traffic jam , May 16, 2009
- ↑ Die Welt : General Plan for Coastal Protection , June 6, 2009
- ^ NWZ : New cruise ship on the way to the North Sea , June 20, 2009
- ↑ Free travel ahead: Ems may be dammed ( memento of March 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), NDR , August 1, 2012.
- ↑ Conservationists demand Ems renovation ( memento of March 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), NDR , April 12, 2012.
- ↑ Serious marine casualty: collision of the passenger ship “Spiekeroog III” with the Gandersum Ems Barrier (PDF; 575 kB), accessed on October 19, 2012.
Coordinates: 53 ° 19 ′ 14 " N , 7 ° 18 ′ 23" E