Race against time to clear Rhine after ship loses load

Mar 29, 2007, 10:23 GMT

Cologne, Germany - Salvagers were racing against time Thursday to clear the Rhine river of containers which sank five days earlier in a barge accident, assuring shippers that Europe's main east-west inland waterway would be open again on Friday.

Birgitta Beul, head of the Inland Shipping Authority in Cologne, said 16 of the 32 containers lost from the diesel barge Excelsior had been raised so far, including all three containing hazardous substances.

Four floating cranes and a diving-bell ship were at the scene, with salvagers still hunting for underwater containers that had been carried away by the current. Some were thought to be underneath the ship, which lost some of its cargo during a Sunday manoeuvre.

'We have four sonar ships looking for them,' said Beul. 'Once we've located them all, we'll have made big progress.'

German officials have banned shipping movements on 20 kilometres of the Rhine, part of a waterway stretching from the Black Sea to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. The long ships carry both containers and bulk cargoes at cheaper rates than Europe's railways.

Beul said a commitment to re-open the river Friday remained.

The tailback was noticeable more than 100 kilometres in both directions as hundreds of barges crowded scarce moorings. At the Kostheim lock in the Frankfurt area, about a dozen west-bound barges were tied up, waiting for the river to re-open.

'When the river reopens, we'll suddenly have 100 vessels arrive in a rush wanting to use the lock,' said a shipping official.