At the end of the public presentation of the plans to adapt the navigation channel in the Outer Ems, the Emder Hafenförderungsgesellschaft e. V. (EHFG) points out that it sees the planned measure as an opportunity to reconcile economy and ecology at the mouth of the Ems. After all, according to Emden's port representative Reinhard Hegewald, the adjustment of the fairway is also necessary in order to meet the ecological challenges facing the regional economy. In this context, he mentions the transportation of large parts for the construction of offshore wind power platforms and parks in the North Sea. These require ships with just as much depth as electromobility. After all, electric vehicles are around a third heavier than previous vehicles with combustion engines. This naturally has an impact on the draughts of the car carriers. There are also plans to move some of the dredged material from the maintenance of the Outer Ems to land. There it would mature - instead of being dumped in the Ems estuary - and could then be used to raise the dykes. "That definitely makes more sense than removing the clay for dyke construction from the inner dyke, which is hardly available there anyway," says Hegewald. 

The EHFG sees the Außenems as an "umbilical cord" that connects Emden and a large part of the East Frisian peninsula with the world and contributes to the preservation of jobs in the port of Emden. If the adjustment was not made, jobs in Emden and the region could be at risk. Hegewald pointed out that the depth now being sought in the Outer Ems already existed when Emden was still one of the major ore handling ports.

After a long and painful restructuring process, the seaport of Emden has developed from a bulk cargo port into a port that handles almost six million tons of state-of-the-art general cargo per year. It offers secure jobs to around 10,000 people and their families. The EHFG now sees the seaport at a turning point. For if it does not succeed now in facing up to future ecological and economic requirements and adapting, its position as the economic "heart chamber" of the region is at risk. 

According to the EHFG, the local people have always shown a high degree of acceptance for the necessities of economic development. Hegewald: "We don't just live on the water here, we live with and above all from the river and its estuary and see the opportunities that an adapted Outer Ems will bring for the region. EHFG describes the presentation of the planning documents as a "milestone" on the way to a secure future for the port of Emden and the surrounding area. "We have never been as far along with the planning as we are now".