Main-Danube-Canal closed for 2 or 3 weeks after accident

[TravelerThom]

I’m glad I’m not trying to learn geography from either the CruiseCritic writers or from the quotes from UniWorld. Maybe CC left out part of UniWorld’s statement but a solution to a “lock closure on the Danube” [sic] is what sounds like a night in a hotel and a day trip “scenic Rhine sailing by private boat”??? Surely there is more to it than that. 

[cruiselvr04]

This is Great News!

[G.M.T.]

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

No, Riedenburg is not on the Danube river but on the Canal.... (sic!)

 

steamboats

Maybe King Ludwig's canal could be reopened:🍻🥨🍻

[notamermaid]

15 hours ago, glovedirk said:

 

It was NOT the Viking Var, I was on the Viking Var.  It was the Vking Idi that hit the lock.  We were just right behind that boat on the Var and were stuck there once the Idi damaged it.  The Idi ended up reversing to farther back behind us, so the Var is the one you see in the pic, even though the Var didn't do the damage.  

Thank you for correcting.

 

Hope you had a great time otherwise on the river and canal.

 

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

No, Riedenburg is not on the Danube river but on the Canal.... (sic!)

 

steamboats

So normal for me, the geographics, that I did not read the mistake. Good that you saw that.

 

G.M.T. as an alternative to the Ludwig Canal reopening - what a ceremony that would be with lots of speeches and beer and wine and brass band music - the companies could have asked in true Old Viking style many mead-infused, testosterone-filled Bavarian and Franconian young men to carry - that is roll - the ships over land. Would probably have to keep the two factions separate though, they might rekindle old territorial disputes otherwise...

 

Joking aside, the canal being closed for such a long time is a major economic mishap, especially for those that cannot react quickly with dozens of lorries replacing the ships to deliver cargo over land. If Viking had to bear some of that loss financially even they would get a tiny wee cash-flow problem.

 

Planned reopening date confirmed in the local media, if they have it, then the info will be with the affected river companies now, I should think. Glad they can plan now.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by notamermaid
added information

[G.M.T.]

19 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Thank you for correcting.

 

Hope you had a great time otherwise on the river and canal.

 

So normal for me, the geographics, that I did not read the mistake. Good that you saw that.

 

G.M.T. as an alternative to the Ludwig Canal reopening - what a ceremony that would be with lots of speeches and beer and wine and brass band music - the companies could have asked in true Old Viking style many mead-infused, testosterone-filled Bavarian and Franconian young men to carry - that is roll - the ships over land. Would probably have to keep the two factions separate though, they might rekindle old territorial disputes otherwise...

 

Joking aside, the canal being closed for such a long time is a major economic mishap, especially for those that cannot react quickly with dozens of lorries replacing the ships to deliver cargo over land. If Viking had to bear some of that loss financially even they would get a tiny wee cash-flow problem.

 

Planned reopening date confirmed in the local media, if they have it, then the info will be with the affected river companies now, I should think. Glad they can plan now.

 

notamermaid

 

How about this:

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbląg_Canal

[notamermaid]

Yes, that's it!

 

Problem solved.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Or you could do what the Rus did, and ask for help from the Varangians in Sweden.  But be careful – they tend to stay. 

[notamermaid]

Here is a German article with a photo of the repairs. The article published on 11 June says that 38 ships, ten of which are river cruise ships, are stuck in the area: https://www.mittelbayerische.de/region/kelheim-nachrichten/immer-mehr-schiffe-liegen-fest-21029-art1793294.html

 

notamermaid

[Stickman1990]

We have friends on Crystal Mahler which is caught up in this lock closure - here’s some photos of the “ship jam” at the lock that is closed. It sure will be fun clearing the traffic when it finally opens 

 

Their cruise was heading to Budapest but they will now be flown from Frankfurt (after back tracking from the lock) to Budapest and put up in a hotel there

 

Crystal will meet those costs of course and they’ve also offered a significant discount on a future River or Ocean cruise

 

The challenge for Crystal with their relatively small fleet of river ships is they can’t “swap” passengers over from one ship to another on either side of the lock 

 

I wonder how other lines are handling it for impacted cruises

[notamermaid]

Thank you for the photos.

 

Makes me think, those crew members of the different ships could get the deck chairs, organize the food accordingly and have a massive barbecue at the side of the canal. Barge and river cruise ship crews. Great fun and a way to while away the time. Apart from the captain that has caused the jam perhaps...

 

There will be a hefty bill for Viking.

 

Reopening still scheduled for 19 June 2200 hours.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Work is still on schedule. At the time of writing this article 59 barges, tankers, etc. and 26 river cruise ships were waiting in the "jam": https://binnenschifffahrt-online.de/2019/06/haefen-wasserstrassen/7380/instandsetzung-der-schleuse-riedenburg-im-zeitplan/

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Work is still on schedule. At the time of writing this article 59 barges, tankers, etc. and 26 river cruise ships were waiting in the "jam":

 

notamermaid

 

I'm a bit surprised that so many river cruise ships are waiting. I would have expected that most companies would have tried to do ship swaps, which wouldn't have the ships sitting there waiting.

[Riversanddale]

Oh my, oh my we feel so bad for all the folks and companies impacted by this. Can’t imagine the ripple effects on locals, cruisers, and transport. We sail on the Idi in October and we’re hoping she has a new captain by then. No confidence in this one.

[kentchris]

18 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I'm a bit surprised that so many river cruise ships are waiting. I would have expected that most companies would have tried to do ship swaps, which wouldn't have the ships sitting there waiting.

I got the impression from one article that the canal isn’t wide enough for cruise boats to turn, and the authorities don’t want to run the risk of further accidents by allowing them to sail backwards until they reach a turning point. 

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, kentchris said:

I got the impression from one article that the canal isn’t wide enough for cruise boats to turn, and the authorities don’t want to run the risk of further accidents by allowing them to sail backwards until they reach a turning point. 

That makes sense for those that were already there. But were there ships far enough away to have turned around without getting to this choke point? I have no idea how long the canal area is. Just wondering.

[porsena]

On 6/14/2019 at 12:21 PM, Stickman1990 said:

I wonder how other lines are handling it for impacted cruises

We docked in Regensburg at. lunchtime on Scenic Jade, from Budapest to Amsterdam. The ship has its scheduled tours in Regensburg today, then we will overnight here instead of saiing for Nuremburg. Tomorrow morning we get bussed to the Jewel in Nuremberg, which will hopefully be able to avoid the traffic jam leaving for Amsterdam, and the Jewel's passengers wll be bussed to the Jade. Aside from the ship swap it's all pretty uneventful for us, but I certainly sympathize with the commercial ship operators, who will lose two weeks and $$$$. I wonder what the liability of Viking's insurers will be? We're fortunate that the damaged lock is right in the middle of our trip, in an area where ship swaps routinely occur due to adverse water levels. 

 

Our port presentation this morning included information on the canal. There are somewhere around 5,300 ship transits a year, of which about 43% are passenger ships, 9% smaller pleasure boats, and the remaining 48% are commercial (numbers from memory; not guaranteed but in the ballpark). 

Edited June 16, 2019 by porsena

[English Tim]

We leave for Budapest on Thursday, where we join Scenic Amber to cruise to Nuremburg. Unsure if this will affect us. Have heard nothing from Scenic.

[steamboats]

The Canal is 171 km long. The regular canal is not wide enough for a ship to turn around. This is possible in the harbor areas like in Nuremberg. Maybe above a lock it´s wider. But I don´t think so. So all ships which were Southbound and already had left Nuremberg are not really able to turn around and go the opposite way.

 

steamboats

[porsena]

2 hours ago, English Tim said:

We leave for Budapest on Thursday, where we join Scenic Amber to cruise to Nuremburg. Unsure if this will affect us. Have heard nothing from Scenic.

We're still hearing June 19th for completion of the repairs, so you should be OK. The traffic density coming down will be governed by the locks above Regensburg: one ship at a time. 

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, porsena said:

We docked in Regensburg at. lunchtime on Scenic Jade, from Budapest to Amsterdam. The ship has its scheduled tours in Regensburg today, then we will overnight here instead of saiing for Nuremburg. Tomorrow morning we get bussed to the Jewel in Nuremberg, which will hopefully be able to avoid the traffic jam leaving for Amsterdam, and the Jewel's passengers wll be bussed to the Jade. Aside from the ship swap it's all pretty uneventful for us, but I certainly sympathize with the commercial ship operators, who will lose two weeks and $$$$. I wonder what the liability of Viking's insurers will be? We're fortunate that the damaged lock is right in the middle of our trip, in an area where ship swaps routinely occur due to adverse water levels. 

 

Our port presentation this morning included information on the canal. There are somewhere around 5,300 ship transits a year, of which about 43% are passenger ships, 9% smaller pleasure boats, and the remaining 48% are commercial (numbers from memory; not guaranteed but in the ballpark). 

Thank you for joining us here with information directly from the affected area. Good to hear that the ship swap will not bother you too much.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

No new news items in the media and ELWIS, the authorities' official website, still has the entry for 19 June 2200 hours. Sounds really good.

I have watched a couple of German videos on the repairs, in one it says that this was not a standard repair job. The ship hit the gate at a point which destroyed a part at the beam - I think where the hinges for the gate are that means - that is not readily available. It had to be manufactured first by a specialist company.

 

When all is replaced they will fill the chamber and do a test run on Wednesday.

 

Hope it works.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Luckily this happened so close to the Netherlands, just about the most expert lock gate constructors in the world. Also regardless of where or what type of lock it is there is no way it can be ‘off the shelf’ ever gate will be bespoke. The other problem is the canal profile, although it might look plenty wide enough to turn a river craft the majority of a canal profile is a gentle curve not straight up and down at the sides so the turning of boats is stuffed. Reading the previous report again it sounds like the fixing (it does have a particular name) at the top pivot point was badly damaged, not really a surprise which would mean that the bottom pivot point would also be compromised, on British canals this would be the quoin and quoin cup but most probably not here as our canals are just a tad older that this one.

Still they are doing a fantastic job getting it completed so quickly. CA

[notamermaid]

Thank you, Canal archive. I am completely unfamiliar with that sort of technical stuff. I agree that they are doing a great job. Utterly annoying after having only completed maintenance a few weeks prior.

 

travelweekly finds that Viking has not said much about this latest accident: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Viking-River-Cruises-mum-on-most-recent-accident

 

notamermaid

 

[Sandikal]

On 6/15/2019 at 8:41 PM, Riversanddale said:

Oh my, oh my we feel so bad for all the folks and companies impacted by this. Can’t imagine the ripple effects on locals, cruisers, and transport. We sail on the Idi in October and we’re hoping she has a new captain by then. No confidence in this one.

 

It wasn't the Viking Idi.

 

My husband and I just got back from the Cities of Light cruise on the Idi. We were supposed to board in Nuremburg on the 7th, but boarded in Reidenburg (?) instead. They told us when boarded that the lock was damaged and we couldn't cruise the Main and Moselle. Instead, the gave us the option of leaving the cruise or sailing the Danube. They made up a whole itinerary for us on the fly and it was so much fun. They really went out of their way to make up for the change and I think we ended up with a better experience than we would have with the cruise we booked. They even flew us all on a charter plane from Vienna to Paris. 

 

I know they used the charter they flew us on to take the passengers for the Paris to Prague cruise to Vienna to do the same itinerary we did. I don't know what they'll do for the other bookings.

[glovedirk]

9 minutes ago, Sandikal said:

 

It wasn't the Viking Idi.

 

My husband and I just got back from the Cities of Light cruise on the Idi. We were supposed to board in Nuremburg on the 7th, but boarded in Reidenburg (?) instead. They told us when boarded that the lock was damaged and we couldn't cruise the Main and Moselle. Instead, the gave us the option of leaving the cruise or sailing the Danube. They made up a whole itinerary for us on the fly and it was so much fun. They really went out of their way to make up for the change and I think we ended up with a better experience than we would have with the cruise we booked. They even flew us all on a charter plane from Vienna to Paris. 

 

I know they used the charter they flew us on to take the passengers for the Paris to Prague cruise to Vienna to do the same itinerary we did. I don't know what they'll do for the other bookings.

It was the Idi.  The boat didn’t get much damage.  But it was the idi.  I was on the Var right behind it when it hit.