Business News
Main east-west European waterway closed for days by accident
Mar 26, 2007, 11:31 GMT
Cologne - Europe's main east-west inland waterway from the North Sea to the Black Sea was likely to be blocked all week by salvage operations after a dangerous cargo toppled into the water, shipping officials said Monday in Cologne, Germany.
Some 31 containers slipped off the diesel barge Excelsior as it executed a sharp turn on Sunday on the Rhine river near Cologne.
Police, firefighters and contractors with floating cranes said it might take till Friday to recover the containers. Nearly half of them sank immediately and the other 17 floated away several kilometres down-river. Several were believed to contain toxic chemicals.
By Monday, about 100 other barges were backed up near the accident site. Their captains said they faced penalties because of the delay.
The Rhine, which empties into the North Sea at Rotterdam, is connected by canal to the Danube river, which empties into the Black Sea north of Constanta. Inland shipping officials said it was too dangerous to let other ships pass the sunken cargo.
Neckar-Reederei, the German owner of the Excelsior, said the vessel had been on loan to a Swiss company at the time of the accident.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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