Germany's Rhine River reopens after stranded vessel is towed away

BERLIN • The Rhine River has reopened at St Goar, Germany, for barges moving goods inland after a vessel, which suffered a technical fault that led to it blocking the waterway, was towed away.

The river was blocked to all commercial traffic early on Wednesday between St Goar and Oberwesel when the technical fault occurred, yet another glitch for the key waterway that has become difficult to navigate because of drought.

The blockage occurred on a narrow part of the river near a key choke point at Kaub, south of Cologne, according to the WSA water authority.

It occurred just as the water level at Kaub was starting to edge higher. After falling as low as 30cm earlier this week, it is now forecast to reach 49cm early on Sunday. The level is not the actual depth of the river, but rather a marker used for navigability. The river can be a few metres deeper than the marker.

Low water levels are restricting the shipment of commodities along the Rhine River, which snakes for about 1,290km from the Swiss Alps down to the North Sea. This latest setback only adds to the logistical difficulties already facing shippers.

The marker at Kaub is currently at 34cm, meaning that the water is so shallow that it is uneconomical for many commodity-hauling barges to sail through the chokepoint. That is curbing the shipment of vital goods to locations further upriver, including parts of southern Germany and Switzerland.

Low water levels are set to continue limiting shipments for some time yet. Even if the marker at Kaub rises to 49cm as forecast, many barges will still be severely restricted in how much cargo they can carry through the chokepoint at that level.

Energy prices in Europe have soared amid the crisis. Coal futures reached a record on Wednesday. Barge rates to ship some fuel from Rotterdam to Basel, Switzerland, are near an all-time high.

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