Actually, roads and rails should be relieved by transporting goods by ship. However, many structures along the rivers are showing their age.
The red granules are deposited in the Rhine, clearly visible. Or better: in the model that was recreated in a hall of the Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering (BAW) in Karlsruhe.
It represents the “Jungferngrund” on the Middle Rhine on the route between Mainz and St. Goar on a scale of 1:60 in length and 1:50 in height. There are depth bottlenecks here that should be alleviated. The model simulates the transport of sediment over a detailed rock bed.
Climate change must be taken into account
The BAW conducts research on various questions relating to hydraulic engineering, prepares expert opinions or advises the Federal Ministry of Transport, for example. The experts have been dealing with environmental issues for decades. Aspects related to climate change are now increasingly being added, says BAW director Christoph Heinzelmann.
In principle, the topic is about, for example, how ships are equipped with new propulsion systems or designed differently for lower water levels – and last but not least the question of construction.
“We have to build more climate-friendly,” says Heinzelmann. Locks, weirs and other hydraulic structures are designed to last 100 years. “That means a lot of concrete.” Its production is associated with high CO2 emissions. “We have to build more resource-efficiently and use materials that can be recycled.” Some sources, for example for the fly ash component of concrete, which is a waste product in coal-fired power plants, for example, would eventually dry up.
The problem: According to Heinzelmann, there is not much time left. According to forecasts, low water levels like 2018 will be the norm by the end of the century. And thanks to the glaciers in the Alps, the Rhine is still privileged. “We have to try solutions quickly,” warns the BAW boss. “We must not waste any time.”
200 million tons of cargo
The network of federal waterways is around 7,300 kilometers long. According to the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV), around 200 million tons of freight are transported here every year. “Inland navigation thus makes a decisive contribution to reducing road and rail traffic,” emphasizes a spokeswoman. A modern barge replaces 150 trucks.
“There is clear free capacity for more ships on the federal waterways,” says Hans-Heinrich Witte, President of the Directorate-General for Waterways and Shipping. Inland shipping makes “a significant contribution to achieving the climate goals”.
Service life reached or exceeded
However, around 60 percent of the 315 lock systems and around half of the 307 weir systems operated by the WSV were built before 1950. About 10 percent of the weirs and up to 20 percent of the locks date back to before 1900. Many facilities have therefore reached or exceeded their normal service life.
According to the spokeswoman, an annual budget of 1.7 billion euros is required for the upcoming measures. According to the Federal Ministry of Transport, this sum should also be available this year. According to a spokesman, that would be around 18 percent more than in 2021. “The government decision is currently being prepared for the 2023 budget year and the financial planning up to 2026.” When determining the need, the issue of resilience to the consequences of climate change is also taken into account. A network of experts advises the Ministry.
However, the Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB) sees an imminent underfunding of around 500 million euros per year from 2023. “The government urgently needs to take countermeasures here so that inland waterway transport has a modern and needs-based infrastructure available in the future,” said a spokesman. “After all, the emission reduction targets in the transport sector cannot be achieved in the coming years and decades without an increasing shift in traffic to environmentally friendly inland waterways.”
“We want to make a quantum leap”
The only problem for the engineers is that barges, unlike trucks and freight trains, cannot take short detours or switches during construction work. And locks often only have one chamber, explains BAW manager Heinzelmann. In order not to stop the entire traffic, in the future it should be renovated at night and locked during the day.
“We want to make a quantum leap,” says Heinzelmann. The procedure is being tested on the Neckar: Many locks have two chambers here, so that one can be repaired using the new method and through which other ships pass as usual.
The main problem that Heinzelmann sees with regard to climate change is low water. This will continue more and more often for longer periods of time. Flood events like in the Ahr valley last year are of relatively short duration. There are also more serious consequences on smaller rivers, not on the large waterways.
“Shipping would be helped if you offered more reliable water level forecasts,” says Heinzelmann. With construction measures, a river can be diverted a little, so that the fairway becomes deeper. As in the case of the “Loading Optimization Middle Rhine” project in the Karlsruhe hall. This is about 20 centimeters more.
According to the BDB, this is one of a number of important waterway infrastructure projects from the Federal Transport Routes Plan 2030 that should be highlighted. “This measure would eliminate an existing bottleneck on the Rhine and at the same time open up the possibility of keeping inland waterway vessels on the move longer and with better utilization even when water levels are low can,” explains a spokesman. “Transports on the Rhine will be easier to plan and carry out in the future, even at low water.”
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
