The German government has begun converting civilian infrastructure for military purposes, Bloomberg reported.
As the agency noted, Europe's largest car port in Bremerhaven on the Baltic Sea coast will undergo a 1.35 billion euro modernization. The state-funded investment is designed to strengthen the loading platforms so that they can transport military equipment, such as Leopard tanks, to future front lines.
This project, included in the country's 2026 budget, is part of a larger initiative to prepare Germany for a potential war, Bloomberg emphasizes. In the event of a military conflict, the country's geographical location and resources would provide it with a strategically important position for supplying troops.
Despite the plans of the German government, the army does not have the resources to implement the project on its own, so the authorities are looking for support from the private sector. The agency noted that companies are ready to provide transport and storage services to the army, but such cooperation is complicated by problems with the road and rail network. The Bundeswehr is not prepared for a public-private partnership on the scale necessary for rapid mass mobilization in the event of an attack on a NATO ally, the agency notes.