A coal-loaded inland vessel ran aground on the Waal near Nijmegen on 24 August, with the Captain managing to free the ship after a while.
The general cargo ship got stuck on the bottom of the Waal after miscalculating the depth and water levels around Nijmegen port. It now lies on the edge of the Waalhaven, waiting for enough water to flow through the river again to continue sailing.
Rijkswaterstaat has also drawn up an official report, while it also issued a warning for more than a week that skippers should take the extremely low water level in the major rivers into account. For this reason, operators can only take a small part of the usual load.
In this case, the ship is 2.10 meters deep, while there is 1.80 meters of water in the river
said spokesman, adding that the skipper can expect a fine.
According to the latest reports, the water level of the Waal should rise slightly, but it is not certain whether the coal ship can continue the journey.
In a similar incident, around 20 ships got stuck in traffic last week, along Germany’s river Rhine, after a vessel’s engine failure closed part of the waterway.
According to Reuters, a vessel with a 1,660-ton load was forced to drop anchor after an engine failure, closing traffic between St Goar and Oberwesel
As a spokesperson for the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration told Reuters, “the berths are full all the way to Mainz.”
Downstream was affected more, while traffic headed upstream has resumed. The authorities further stressed that the build-up was not caused by reduced water levels, which have hit record lows at some points due to a lack of rain.
