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Rhine water levels 2022 and similar topics

notamermaid

By notamermaid,
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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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23 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I have just referred to that in my post above as treating that with extreme caution. It is not a forecast, but what I call tentative, a prediction based on something like 90 parametres. I saw that Bloomberg has picked this up, as a business site they would obviously.

Now, to the 148cm that Bloomberg mentioned. With an update since yesterday on elwis - where Bloomberg got the figure from - I am willing to look at this. Sunday evening should see 70cm. Monday could see the figure jumping the 100cm mark. That would normally ensure sailing for all river cruise ships, but remember that I cannot know anything about individual decisions as regards logistics and company policy. Going into Tuesday, yes, 148cm is still listed as a probability. I am still skeptical about that figure but it is not what we need for river cruising anyway. It is good to have the buffer above 100cm. If it only goes up to 120cm, I will be happy enough.

 

In short, looking very promising for 135m ships now. Or, another way, looking good for all river cruise ships that right now cannot sail the Rhine Gorge due to low water levels. :classic_smile:

 

notamermaid

 

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KathyK13

KathyK13

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I just read on a Facebook post that a Tauck ship traveling Amsterdam to Basel was able to sail through the middle Rhine to Mannheim this morning.  An additional captain with experience with low water levels was brought on to assist the ship's captain and they were able to make it through and expect to continue the cruise without interruptions.  Kudos to Tauck for making it happen!

 

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DeanD

DeanD

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19 minutes ago, KathyK13 said:

I just read on a Facebook post that a Tauck ship traveling Amsterdam to Basel was able to sail through the middle Rhine to Mannheim this morning.  An additional captain with experience with low water levels was brought on to assist the ship's captain and they were able to make it through and expect to continue the cruise without interruptions.  Kudos to Tauck for making it happen!

 

I'm no expert but I've been told in he past that the Tauck ships have a more shallow draft than the viking ships, around 1.2 Meters.  Still good news though.

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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11 minutes ago, DeanD said:

I'm no expert but I've been told in he past that the Tauck ships have a more shallow draft than the viking ships, around 1.2 Meters.

Tauck has ships of 110m and 135m length, so draft, also among the lengths, will vary.

 

A pilot, now that is unusual. Almost like back to the old days when pilots were brought onto river ships regularly in the Rhine Gorge. There is a museum dedicated to the pilots in Kaub, very small: http://www.lotsendienst-kaub.de/

 

I am impressed by Tauck.

 

notamermaid

 

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NJPA79

NJPA79

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2 hours ago, KathyK13 said:

I just read on a Facebook post that a Tauck ship traveling Amsterdam to Basel was able to sail through the middle Rhine to Mannheim this morning.  An additional captain with experience with low water levels was brought on to assist the ship's captain and they were able to make it through and expect to continue the cruise without interruptions.  Kudos to Tauck for making it happen!

 

I’m traveling with Tauck in a couple weeks; this is great news to hear!  Thank you.

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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Okay, a late night look at the levels. Obviously going okay, i.e. the right direction, and there is another improvement on this afternoon. Maxau gauge's rise is levelling off, but that is not too bad. We see that Lake Constance has filled a bit as well, from 305cm to 330cm in just over 24 hours, says the gauge at Konstanz. That will be helpful in the next few days. Kaub is reacting well, now up to 55cm. Koblenz gauge is now also reacting of course, 42cm. Cologne gauge is slower to react, but is also up a bit, 79cm. Emmerich is still showing daily fluctuation but with an upward trend that will continue tomorrow when a higher volume of water reaches the Lower Rhine. It is at 0cm and may reach 15cm on Monday.

 

This is a good wave, it will likely carry lots of ships along the river and through the Rhine Gorge. For how long is not clear and it is still too far out to say what September will bring. The level will go down again, it is likely that a level over 90cm cannot be sustained for long but we will probably not see a level lower than 75cm before 3 September, so after 29 August when the immediate effects of this wave have gone, things are going to stay interesting.

 

For now, let us look forward to potential double figures at Kaub on Monday.

 

notamermaid

 

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OwenSmith

OwenSmith

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6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

A pilot, now that is unusual. Almost like back to the old days when pilots were brought onto river ships regularly in the Rhine Gorge.

I was on an Amsterdam to Budapest cruise with APT on AmaLyra (110m) in 2015, water levels were low then too though not as low as they have been this year. Some sort of barge got gravel in its bow thrusters on the Danube and the river was shut for a day or two. We were the first ship through, and APT brought a pilot on board. The next evening the Captain brought a short piece of string to the evening port talk, it was the amount of water under the keel. About 10cm if I recall correctly.

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OwenSmith

OwenSmith

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7 hours ago, DeanD said:

I'm no expert but I've been told in he past that the Tauck ships have a more shallow draft than the viking ships, around 1.2 Meters.  Still good news though.

The Viking longships are particularly bad, they need more depth than many other ships. Perhaps that is why they aren't building any more of that design.

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RDVIK2016

RDVIK2016

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4 hours ago, OwenSmith said:

The Viking longships are particularly bad, they need more depth than many other ships. Perhaps that is why they aren't building any more of that design.

If a Viking passenger on this board gets the opportunity when getting a tour of the wheelhouse, please ask the captain, engineer, or a mate what is the minimum draft of their ship and what is the minimum channel depth they require.

 

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Canal archive

Canal archive

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Plus the name of the vessel with so many there will also be varieties of depth etc.

 

Bow thrusters are pesky little suckers the smallest object can incapacitate them or something like half a tree decides to try for entry. Narrowboaters who have them on their boats are accused of cheating but on larger boats the captains are applauded for their use of them.

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CILCIANRQTS

CILCIANRQTS

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7 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

If a Viking passenger on this board gets the opportunity when getting a tour of the wheelhouse, please ask the captain, engineer, or a mate what is the minimum draft of their ship and what is the minimum channel depth they require.

 

This would be very interesting info!
There seems to be a great deal of disagreement on these boards over what the “real” drafts of the longships are.

Neptune Werft, who have built over 50 Viking longships, lists 1.6m as their draft. 
I’d love to hear what the captains say. 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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Talking of herbs and spices has made me remember: you can see photos online of tomato plants and other slightly more unusual plants than the standard grass and bushes growing on the dried out river banks and exposed river bed. I have also been to the river again in the last few days but have not seen anything other than the usual rubbish, mainly building rubbish and metal it is. Thankfully also nothing that looked suspicious.

 

River levels. Lake Constance now steadily on figures around 332cm. Maxau 459cm, on the downward slope. Likely to fall below 400cm again on 24 August.

 

Most importantly, Kaub gauge: nice steady rise, now at 71cm. Forecast adjusted down, no 148cm anticipated anymore. You can see why I was skeptical on Friday. But it is still looking good, 100cm basically certain for tomorrow, 130cm still looks a convincing estimate, but the highest figure now given is 143cm on Tuesday. My money is on 140cm maximum.

 

So Tuesday is going to be the peak, how fast the level will fall after that is not clear yet.

 

notamermaid

 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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I have heard there was an old series in England called "Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men"? I do not recall ever having had such vegetable stuff on German telly. We had animal characters.

 

This drought has obviously caused fish a lot of stress, less water for them and the river is hotter, too. I have not read much about wildlife along the Rhine but in the Oder river many fish have died. Investigation revealed that it was a poisonous type of algae that caused it.

 

notamermaid

 

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