Around 20 ships are stuck in traffic along Germany’s river Rhine, where low water levels raise difficulties shipping this summer, 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.
