Waterways open again
Navigation on the Elbe and Moselle rivers. Inland shipping on the river Elbe resumed partially on 3 February, having been severely impaired by the collapse of bits of the Carola Bridge in Dresden last year. The repaired Müden lock on the Moselle, in turn, has been reopened to traffic too.
Shipping on the Elbe has largely been possible again following the partial collapse of the Carola Bridge in Dresden on 11 September 2024. The first vessel carrying freight to pass under the bridge again on 3 February was a push-barge combination from the Czech shipping line Evropská vodní doprava-Sped, after companies from Dresden and Czechia, along with the Elbe Alliance, undertook extensive measures.
The port operator Sächsische Binnenhäfen Oberelbe has called for the restoration of traffic on the river, a key national waterway. The remaining sections of the bridge remain under acute risk of collapse and should actually be demolished. This could once again lead to months of closures.
The Elbe Alliance urged the government in Berlin to actively engage in the process, to bring about a rapid resolution. Overcoming the challenges and resuming cargo transport is seen as an important step for the international shipping route to and from Czechia.
‘Only’ 55 days of disruption caused
A serious accident also occurred in a lock in Müden on the river Moselle in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate in December (see ITJ Daily of 12 December 2024). The incident saw a cargo vessel ram the gate of the lock there, rendering the entire facility inoperable.
72 rather large vessels were blocked, Moselle shipping almost came to a standstill, and initial estimates projected that repairs wouldn’t be completed before March.
To allow vessels to continue to ply their trade and ensure firms’ economic survival, the German waterway and shipping authority Moselle-Saar-Lahn (WSA MSL) implemented emergency operations, using maintenance locks and mobile cranes, freeing the vessels by 27 December.
Repairs started at the same time. Spare parts were dispatched from the Trier maintenance yard, damaged surfaces were restored and new gate panels installed. After tests the lock was reopened on 1 February – two months earlier than planned.