“We talked about it among ourselves and no one here has ever experienced an outage of this duration.” Managing director of Luxport, which operates the port of Mertert on the Moselle, Gilles Braquet admitted on Monday to having had better days. And for good reason, a barge hit the downstream gate of the Müden lock on the German Moselle on Sunday, causing major damage. It will therefore be necessary to completely replace both doors. “The German authorities are working actively to ensure the resumption of navigation as soon as possible. According to their estimates, the work should be completed by the end of March 2025,” the Luxembourg Ministry of Mobility said on Monday.
Except that in the meantime, “navigation on the Moselle finds itself cut in two, making any crossing impossible”. According to the Waterways and Navigation Office (WSA) Moselle-Sarre-Lahn, 70 boats were blocked on the Moselle on Monday. “By March, entering and leaving the port of Mertert, this represents around 100 barges (of 1,500 tonnes) which will not be able to circulate”, specifies Gilles Braquet, who emphasizes that “not everything can be redirected towards traffic road or rail.
Certain very heavy or bulky elements, for example ArcelorMittal production, require river transport. “It’s a huge handicap for the entire Moselle,” notes Gilles Braquet. The activities of companies in the concrete sector, metallurgy, oil groups and container transport are particularly impacted. Oil companies are particularly looking for solutions to redirect supply by rail or road.
According to David Bollaert, general manager of Tanklux, one of the main operators of the port of Mertert which notably stores fuel for oil tankers, on average “a barge every two days” supplies the depot. These are therefore enormous quantities which will have to be redirected. Enough to make Gilles Braquet fear a “saturation” of the road and rail transport offer.
-The Ministry of Mobility specified that it had “offered its support to the German authorities and maintains close contact with the operator of the port of Mertert as well as with the companies concerned, in order to closely monitor the evolution of the situation and guarantee the continuity of the transport of goods.
Are you already following us on WhatsApp?
Subscribe to our channel, activate the little ???? and you will receive a news recap every day in early evening.
