Moselle river lock to be repaired by February
The repair work on the lock on Germany’s Moselle river has proceeded faster than anticipated, so that ship traffic can return to normal as of 1 February, according to the local waterways authority WSA.
On 8 December, a vessel carrying steel scrap collided with the lock’s gate at point Müden, and damaged both wings to the degree that they needed to be exchanged. Ship traffic has since been interrupted, which affected scrap transports to nearby mills Dillinger, Saarland and ArcelorMittal Luxembourg, but also outgoing transports of mainly Dillinger’s plate and ArcelorMittal’s sections.
WSA originally expected that the waterway would not be back to regular traffic operation before March, but repair work has proceeded faster than planned, Kallanish understands. According to the authority, the concrete works at the lock will be completed this week. The new gate wings have been completed by a regional fabricator, and their installation will take approximately one week, so that test transits can be carried out by 31 January.
In a statement earlier in January, Dillinger said that its supplies of raw materials by rail and road were secured, so that production continued at a normal level. The driving ban for trucks on Sundays and public holidays has been suspended by the state governments of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, thus ensuring a permanent flow of transport, the steelmaker wrote.
Christian Koehl Germany
Navigation blocked on the Moselle: lock accident halts traffic until Spring
A cargo ship collided with a lock gate on the Moselle River, bringing river traffic to a standstill. Officials do not expect the situation to return to normal before spring.
The incident occurred at the Müden lock in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, when a cargo ship struck a lock gate that was not fully open. The collision caused extensive damage, ripping both leaves of the gate completely from their anchorage. The damaged gate and several associated components will need to be entirely replaced.
According to the Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA) Moselle-Saar-Lahn, navigation on the Moselle will likely remain suspended until the end of March. Currently, about 70 vessels are stranded along the river and unable to proceed toward the Rhine.
While river traffic in Luxembourg remains unaffected, the blockade in Germany has imposed significant restrictions, forcing traffic into a single direction only.
The Moselle, a critical waterway traversing Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, serves as a vital artery for cargo transport. The prolonged closure is expected to have a significant impact on regional logistics and steel industries reliant on river shipping.
Authorities are working to assess and expedite the repairs, but the scale of the damage necessitates a lengthy process before operations can resume.
Source: lessentiel.lu