“Traffic jam” on the Rhine: A barge broke down and immobilized 20 ships

August 17, 2022

Robert

The vessel, carrying a cargo weighing 1,660 tonnes, was forced to drop anchor due to the damage near Kaub and blocked traffic between the towns of Sankt Goar and Oberwessel.

Around 20 ships have been stranded on the Rhine, where low water levels are already causing problems this summer, as a barge broke down today, closing a section of the river.

The vessel, carrying a cargo weighing 1,660 tonnes, was forced to drop anchor due to the damage near Kaub and blocked traffic between the towns of Sankt Goar and Oberwessel. A spokesman for Germany’s Federal Shipping and Waterways Administration told Reuters that ships are starting to pile up and “all berths are full up to Mainz”, a city about 50 kilometers from Oberwessel.

Germany’s main industry lobby group warned Tuesday that factories may have to throttle production or halt it completely because plunging water levels on the Rhine River are making it harder to transport cargo.

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— BusinessMirror (@BusinessMirror) August 17, 2022

Traffic on the river, in both directions, is expected to be restored within the day. Authorities stressed that the problem was not due to low water levels, which reached record levels in some places due to a lack of rainfall. They even estimate that the situation in the river will improve in the coming days, since forecasters are predicting rain in the area. The water level may rise by 50 cm or more by the end of next week.