Moldauhafen is a lot in the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, that

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

acquired on a 99-year lease in 1929 pursuant to the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. In 1993, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

received the right to the port after the

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...

. The lease will expire in 2028. The lot (the name of which is German for "Vltava port") gives the Czech Republic access to the sea via the

Vltava The Vltava ( , ; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It runs southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague. It is com ...

and

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

rivers. Previously, a similar arrangement existed for the port of Stettin, now

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The lot is one of three over which the Czech Republic has rights. The other two are Saalehafen and Peutehafen. Saalehafen comes under the Versailles Treaty, but then-Czechoslovakia purchased Peutehafen in 1929. Both Moldauhafen and Saalehafen are part of the Hamburg free port, and sit on the embankment of Dresdner Ufer and Hallesches Ufer. The area comprises about . The leased premises constitute a duty-free zone that were called the Czecho-Slovak rental zone for inland navigation in the free port of Hamburg. Peutehafen comprises an area of about . It lies on the narrow peninsula between the Peutekanal and the Peutehafen dock, and is just outside the Hamburg free port.

Recent developments

In 2004, the city of Hamburg expressed interest in acquiring the two leased areas, as its proposed plan for hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics would have blocked access to Moldauhafen. The city also desired to develop the two areas. The city offered the Czech Republic a new site in exchange, with the inducement of a better location. For its part, the Czech Republic wished to continue to use its ports in Hamburg even after the expiration of the 99-year leases.

History

The 1919

stated in articles 363 and 364: ;Article 363 ;Article 364 The deal thus allowed the landlocked country

free port A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...

s where goods transported over the

and the

or the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

, respectively, could be transferred to seagoing ships in Hamburg or Stettin without the interference of a third state. Even though Germany had already declared in advance that it would follow the decisions of the Commission, the lease was formalised in an agreement between

and

, signed in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

on 16 February 1929. With the abandonment of the Treaty of Versailles after World War II, the lease now has the character of a private contract between the city of Hamburg as property owner and the Czech Republic.

References

External links

* {{coord, 53, 31, 44, N, 10, 0, 54, E, display=title Economy of Czechoslovakia Geography of Czechoslovakia Economy of the Czech Republic Economy of Hamburg Geography of Hamburg 1929 in Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia–Germany relations Interwar Czechoslovakia