Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, CastleCritic said:

I wonder how that was set up.

 

my messed up mind is just seeing the barge captain going down a list of possible jobs to do on the way for extra money (like the cars you always see on these ships..I think) and finding "Mooring a viking ship to your ship, take it to Mainz"

Some of those cars are the captain's personal vehicles, I believe.

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Some of those cars are the captain's personal vehicles, I believe.

Yup, they usually carry at least one car around with them.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

"Mooring a viking ship to your ship, take it to Mainz"

Yes, grin, it is certainly a more unusual cargo. In one of the videos posted on youtube a person from the Saga Farmann says that "the captain certainly knows his stuff, he has done this before". It is actually a standard procedure on the Rhine to take a ship alongside if it cannot sail by itself. Normally this means a part-finished ship, i.e. a hull that has no engine or at least no steering unit. A river cruise ship constructed in Serbia for example may be finished in the Netherlands and is normally first pushed by an "Argo" then another pushboat and then near the Main confluence with the Rhine attached to a barge. A procedure like that with a ship going upstream I have only heard of once in the last two years when an unfinished hull was - due to unfortunate financial circumstances - sent to Eastern Europe. Earlier this year the "Achim" barge was, being deemed unfit to sail after she had sunk in a lock chamber on the Danube, taken alongside a barge down the river to I think Romania.

 

I also would be interested to know how they looked for a barge to take the Saga Farmann up the Rhine. The authorities? A job offer through the various inland waterways shipping organisations?

 

notamermaid

 

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by notamermaid

[Host Jazzbeau]

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I also would be interested to know how they looked for a barge to take the Saga Farmann up the Rhine. The authorities? A job offer through the various inland waterways shipping organisations?

match.com ???  🤣

[notamermaid]

Just a brief look at the weather and the river levels. We can look forward to a sunny Whitsuntide. Monday is also a public holiday in Germany, by the way.

 

As a result of no rain and higher temperatures we see the levels drop. But only slowly going down steadily. At Kaub all looks well, the first week of June will most likely see figures between 170cm and 205cm. After that potential rain may give a rise which at this time of year should lead to good levels but no high levels close to flooding.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

With regard to the barge hitching a ride there is an expression in England on the canals which would easily translate to to Europe ‘ Towpath telegraph’ or ‘Towpath talk’ in other words if something’s is required or someone needs a hand spread the word, 9 times out of 10 it gets done. The camaraderie of the waterways.

[notamermaid]

43 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

The camaraderie of the waterways.

Yes, a community in the best sense. A barge may have been just a ship mobile service (telephone) call away.

 

Here the two are caught on webcam at Rüdesheim courtesy of the hotel Papa Rhein:

 

https://heimatzeithotels.panomax.com/bingen

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

@Canal archive You were kind of right about the tow path talk. Apparently, someone had heard something and new someone, etc. The story is here: https://www.sagafarmann.com/posts/1449

 

Talking of tow paths. In times when ships had no engines they were of course towed against the strong current by horses. The tow paths in many parts of the Rhine still exist. Treidelpfad is the German word.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A splendid week to be on the river I would say! The river levels are perfect although falling a little due to the high temperatures. It is sunny and very warm. Think cocktails on the sundeck watching the sunset in short sleeves. Oh I am getting just a little envious. Perhaps I should head to the nearest beer garden one evening.

 

Have read about the latest renovations of the MS Stadt Köln. An interesting boat. But that is for another post to explore this.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

First of June means it is time to recap May and the river levels, but first an excursion into the world of barge traffic. Low water - a problem for everyone. For the company BASF it is a big problem as 40 percent of its raw material arrives by ship. Now it has just introduced a tanker specifically with very low river levels in mind, it is called the Stolt Ludwigshafen and is bigger than standard but with a lower draft. This is the report in German, perhaps it is of interest even if you do not speak the language: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/ludwigshafen/basf-schiff-fuer-niedrigwasser-im-rhein-100.html

 

As you can see, the length of the ship is 135m and the width is 17.5m. All river cruise ships are 135m in length or shorter. But wider? We have so far only one on the river, the A-Rosa Sena. She can sail up the Rhine up to the lock at Iffezheim, her width is 17.7m.

 

If you wanted to sail on a river cruise ship that does not have problems with low water you wold need to go small: 110m or less reduces the risk considerably.

 

notamermaid

 

[CastleCritic]

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

First of June means it is time to recap May and the river levels, but first an excursion into the world of barge traffic. Low water - a problem for everyone. For the company BASF it is a big problem as 40 percent of its raw material arrives by ship. Now it has just introduced a tanker specifically with very low river levels in mind, it is called the Stolt Ludwigshafen and is bigger than standard but with a lower draft. This is the report in German, perhaps it is of interest even if you do not speak the language: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/ludwigshafen/basf-schiff-fuer-niedrigwasser-im-rhein-100.html

 

As you can see, the length of the ship is 135m and the width is 17.5m. All river cruise ships are 135m in length or shorter. But wider? We have so far only one on the river, the A-Rosa Sena. She can sail up the Rhine up to the lock at Iffezheim, her width is 17.7m.

 

If you wanted to sail on a river cruise ship that does not have problems with low water you wold need to go small: 110m or less reduces the risk considerably.

 

notamermaid

 

What is the restriction above Iffezheim? Wikipedia shows that lock as 24X270..

 

over on the Danube the AMAMagna is 22MX135M, kind of sad that I didn't get to go through a "normal" lock on her (iron Gorge I in Romania/Serbia was 30M or something, wasn't a tight fit).  (she's also the only ship that I can say for sure had issues last year having to stop short of Budapest a few times).

[Canal archive]

Thank you Notamermaid  very interesting for my DH he worked for Agfa for many years.

[notamermaid]

3 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

What is the restriction above Iffezheim? Wikipedia shows that lock as 24X270..

You can see all the locks here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinschifffahrt#Schleusen_am_Hoch-_und_Oberrhein

 

Why the Sena cannot go into the lock is a mystery to me. In an interview (in German) that I read a few weeks ago, a spokesman for A-Rosa said that she can only sail up to the lock. I reckon that there is a regulation that I do not know about. Kind of connected fun fact: on the Moselle the size for single ships is 110m but ships of 135m have been allowed to sail for several years now, I have read about that regulation but how the exemption/permission works I do not know.

 

notamermaid

 

[CastleCritic]

30 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

You can see all the locks here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinschifffahrt#Schleusen_am_Hoch-_und_Oberrhein

 

Why the Sena cannot go into the lock is a mystery to me. In an interview (in German) that I read a few weeks ago, a spokesman for A-Rosa said that she can only sail up to the lock. I reckon that there is a regulation that I do not know about. Kind of connected fun fact: on the Moselle the size for single ships is 110m but ships of 135m have been allowed to sail for several years now, I have read about that regulation but how the exemption/permission works I do not know.

 

notamermaid

 

Well thats sent me down a rabbit hole for sure.  My German isn't great but the table there doesn't really tell the story since a lot of the locks listed have 2 chambers, 1 12.5 and the other larger. (Rhinau for example is listed as 12.5 but the larger chamber is 23M).

 

Though I ran into a really plausible answer which is of course maintenance. if that big chamber is down...youre not getting a big ship through. This site has a pretty good list of maintenance https://www.e-ris.eu/e-ris/?expired&language=en, including a current one at the same lock (on the small chamber for another 2 months...that cant be great for traffic.)

[Canal archive]

Just an idea and this happens with boats and locks on our admittedly older system, ships are a bit like us ladies and can spread with age, just a tad but it could make all the difference. Or maybe a bit off the wall if the lock has been recently worked on it could have ended up ever so slightly narrower. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Just an idea and this happens with boats and locks on our admittedly older system, ships are a bit like us ladies and can spread with age, just a tad but it could make all the difference. Or maybe a bit off the wall if the lock has been recently worked on it could have ended up ever so slightly narrower. 

All those layers of Bondo?

[Canal archive]

Luckily not there just yet ha ha, these engineers can’t sort everything. I changed fix for sort as most chunkier and non chunkier ladies I know are quite happy as we reach our golden age. 

[notamermaid]

It is June, time to have a look at what the river at Kaub did in May:

 

A good month. It started on a good level. After a gradual decline substantial rain gave the river a high volume of water and lead to a high level but nowhere near flooding so that gave a good level that gave the river a buffer to keep the levels from falling too fast too low, seeing that we now have very warm temperatures typical of May and June. Nevertheless in the absence of rain there has been a steady decline. This has been halted now and the first few days in June have found the gauge at Kaub being at steady levels.

 

The forecast is for a gradual loss of very few centimetres per day so that we will likely see the level fall to 150cm by the middle of the month. This is absolutely fine for river cruise ships.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

There is always something happening on the Rhine, this busiest of inland waterways in Europe. Normally mundane things happens, we get a new barge or there is a ferry that goes into dry dock, etc., etc. I really doubted the date when I read this piece of news: "The navy ship "Lachs" will be on the Rhine". Surely it must be the first of April! But it clearly says that now, after the U-Boot, a navy vessel will sail up the Rhine and when it can be spotted at Wesel. This needs further investigating...

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

10 hours ago, notamermaid said:

There is always something happening on the Rhine, this busiest of inland waterways in Europe. Normally mundane things happens, we get a new barge or there is a ferry that goes into dry dock, etc., etc. I really doubted the date when I read this piece of news: "The navy ship "Lachs" will be on the Rhine". Surely it must be the first of April! But it clearly says that now, after the U-Boot, a navy vessel will sail up the Rhine and when it can be spotted at Wesel. This needs further investigating...

 

notamermaid

 

LACHS has pennant number L 762 and is a multipurpose landing craft of the BARBE-Klasse (520).  Boats of this type can easily operate on the Rhine, but the Bundesmarine has taken most of them out of service or donated them to Greece. These boats are only 40 meters long and can draw less than 2 m. As of today LACHS is in Rotterdam.  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klasse_520

[travelin'suzie]

Hi  notamermaid.  We will be on the Rhine in mid July.  Thank you so much for all of your information.   I will follow this page to see what we can expect when time comes.  Obviously we are about a month or so out so too soon to know much for sure.   We will keep our fingers crossed that things are good for our trip.  

[notamermaid]

Thank you for saying hello and your kind words..

1 hour ago, travelin'suzie said:

We will be on the Rhine in mid July.

Usually still a good time before we get low water, low for river cruise ships that is, and less risk than on the Danube where around Pfelling low water tends to set in earlier in the year than on the Rhine. And the evenings will be welcomingly warm after potentially hot days of exploring places.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

LACHS has pennant number L 762 and is a multipurpose landing craft of the BARBE-Klasse (520). 

Thank you for investigating. As you say, it can sail on the Rhine (and many other waterways) but this amphibious class seems not to have been on rivers beyond their mouths and was mostly patrolling along the coast and operating in the Baltic Sea. As the Wikipedia page says, a training exercise took at least one boat up to Strasbourg but it is not clear if it was the "Lachs". This current journey is the last one for "Lachs", she is saying goodbye and according to a promotion website of the Germany navy "will bring the German Navy to you ((on the river))". It is an information and recruiting tour:

Düsseldorf 10 June,

Bonn 12 June,

Cologne 14/15 June.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Okay, after all these ships, old and modern, let us throw in a few Roman remains. This piece of news comes from Switzerland: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/1700-year-old-roman-watchtower-ruins-discovered-in-switzerland

 

Much of the Rhine eventually became the border of the Roman Empire or was near it. Of course, the boundaries and borders shifted over the centuries. But quite a few geographical features and borders either remain to this day or have had such a lasting impact that they are still clear or easily explained by getting an understanding of the few centuries of Roman influence or occupation.

 

I myself, having been born within the Roman Empire borders, regard, with a twinkle in my eye, the people coming down from the far hills into my area as "wild Germans".

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Reports on international shipping and business websites are coming in for "low water" or "levels having fallen to a low for the first time this year", etc. Following on from my post #243 I can say that, yes, shipping may be affected now but it is fine for river cruise ships. Kaub gauge level is falling, the figure now is 169cm. We have had some rain so the trend has been slowed down today. Next week will still see levels of 150cm and also likely below that. The margin of error shows that levels of below 120cm are unlikely.

 

notamermaid