The river Main infos and river cruising experiences

[sjde]

Yeah- that’s the case with a lot of things- multiple pronunciations that are accepted.
BTW, to me, Door-oh  and Dough- row sound the same- just different ways of  spelling it out. 

[Canal archive]

Okay hers another two Doo rou or Do row.

 

The Douro was a notoriously dangerous river as were several in France that although not used by river cruise companies are by barge companies now. They were used for moving wood as in fire wood from inland to Paris. These rivers until canalised were also extremely dangerous. 
When you really get to the nitty gritty for the lock size reason it’s cash, how cheaply/inexpensively can we complete this project? Then the vessels are built to fit. Apart from most probably the canalised Main it had to fit vessels from either end.

[notamermaid]

On the Main the alterations to make it more commercially viable go back about 200 years. The Main was partly shallow and in summer lacking water so compared to the Rhine it could not sustain regular traffic with ships of a deep draft, although it has always been used for transport and was of importance for market ships, i.e. trade from one market town to another. In the 19th century the Rhine was far ahead with that. However, measures where taken to alter the river so that more load could be carried. Problem was twice the opening of a competing railway line. Being in the middle of the country, the Main does not have a source in very high mountains and meanders slowly towards the Rhine - at least compared to the Douro. Still, if you take the source of one of the two source rivers as measure, the Main has an altitude difference of 805m to cover before it meets the Rhine.

 

@Canal archive the Main was also used for wood transport, taking it in floats from the forests along the Upper Main to the Lower Main and Rhine. This ended in the 1950s.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Notamermaid there have been some re-enactments of the wood transport from the Canal du Nivernais to the Seine and to Paris.

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

Notamermaid there have been some re-enactments of the wood transport from the Canal du Nivernais to the Seine and to Paris.

Oh right, interesting. Same is done from I think the Gutach river onto the Rhine. That is somewhere in Baden-Württemberg. It used to be a big industry on the Rhine, you know for the Netherlands towns an shipbuilding. Could be a nerd question: how many German forests and mountains are there built into the Netherlands? 😁

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Well, the flooding is back. Heavy rain has made the Main and its tributaries rise. This is Würzburg:

 

The Main further downstream has been draining that excess water into the Rhine since Friday but this is not a wave one on one, i.e. this rise is not seen in the same jump in figures close to the mouth at Mainz. But the Middle Rhine is seeing high levels now.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Würzburg gauge over the last four weeks:

 

Well, compared to some other years this is nothing. Let us look back at a different leap year - 1784. In most of Europe - something you can spot in many old river towns that you visit - it was a terrible winter of flooding. Markings on buildings, either old or as a modern reconstruction of the event, tell of a natural disaster ingrained in European history. On 27 February in that year, the Tauber bridge at Wertheim was destroyed. On 28 February the old bridge in Würzburg was severely damaged.

 

Here is a modern gauge to illustrate what the level was: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalenenhochwasser_1342#/media/Datei:Pegel,_Würzburg.PNG

 

This article from 2022 has the headline "Wertheim: A town full of water". It has graphs in a photo depicting the heights of floods over the centuries. At the end of the article there is a photo showing the markings of two floods on a building: https://www.main-echo.de/sonderthemen/feste-events/wertheimerzeitung/wertheim-eine-stadt-voller-wasser-art-7513651

 

The flood of 1784 is an anomaly which is attributed to a volcanic eruption in Iceland the previous year. I have written about that in the thread of the Rhine here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2984992-rhine-water-levels-2024-and-similar-topics/page/4/#comments

 

 

notamermaid

 

Edited February 28 by notamermaid
added link

[notamermaid]

To the present day. We have mentioned lock maintenance on the Danube but at the same time the Main river locks are being seen to as well. Work starts on 10 April.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Lock maintenance is finished and the river level on the Main is good. An explanation for those only having recently found this thread: When I say good I mean there is sufficient water in the river to sail and the locks are keeping it that way. The Main river basin tends to get low on water and the engineering done on the Main Danube Canal helps to divert water from the Danube basin to the Main river. It is relatively common for gauges on the Main to show low levels in late spring, summer and autumn but as the river is dug so deep there is hardly ever a problem. The whole navigable river is controlled by locks (apart from a tiny but that is only allowed for small pleasure craft and never sailed by ships). Although the river is long enough to warrant sailing without the Rhine or the Danube it is hardly ever done. Admittedly, this following river cruise also uses the Canal but neither river on either side of the Main (see *comment coming later). Saga has this offer on the "Spirit of the Moselle" which will enter service in 2025. Nice of the company to dedicated a whole morning to Schweinfurt: https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/river/where-we-go/rhine-river-cruises/gems-of-the-main-river.aspx?boardbasis=AI

The cruise ends in Mainz, just after the confluence with the Rhine, so yes, *I admit it is a bit of sailing on the Rhine river - about 1.5 km.

 

The airport Frankfurt is nearby but Mainz is a nice alternative for disembarkation, also seeing that car and coach can reach the UK in eight to ten hours from there. A no flight option works.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

With the Danube, the Neckar and the Rhine flooding it is time to check on the Main. Yes, the river's levels are rising. Würzburg gauge has jumped from around 160cm yesterday to 220cm tonight; that is well above the mean, but not classified as high. The area has been getting quite a bit of rain but most clouds moved on to the Neckar river and Upper Danube river catchment area.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

There has been an accident on the Main river. A barge hit a wall at the lock at Kleinostheim yesterday and oil leaked into the river. River traffic was suspended for several hours. A slight delay only and thankfully no major pollution.

 

The river is rising but again today has not received much rain. The clouds moved over the southern tributaries mainly. The gauges are all still on green (no official flooding).

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

With the prevailing weather conditions I’m surprised there are not more incidents I think it shows people are being more vigilant.

[notamermaid]

The challenge on the Main in flooding is of course navigating the low bridges. I am not familiar with details on the bridges but there are a few candidates and the river is partly rising. At Würzburg it looks like this:

 

Würzburg gauge has the HSW (highest water level permitted for river traffic) set at 340cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

On 1/18/2024 at 2:29 PM, Canal archive said:

Notamermaid there have been some re-enactments of the wood transport from the Canal du Nivernais to the Seine and to Paris.

CanalArchive, I grew up seeing this song / cartoon on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) on Saturday mornings. 

 

[gnome12]

3 minutes ago, Izengolf said:

CanalArchive, I grew up seeing this song / cartoon on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) on Saturday mornings. 

 

I have always loved this National Film Board short. Great to see it again!

[Canal archive]

Fantastic. Thank you

[notamermaid]

The level at Würzburg fell quickly and is now back down to normal:

 

The whole wave left the Main late on the 8th. All looking good.

 

We can return to the topic of floats and wood transport. And fun dancing.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited June 11 by notamermaid

[Canal archive]

Okay I’ve recently discovered that ‘my canal’ or the Eastern end was built to transport wood for building from the forests of Berkshire, we knew that the connection and Western end was built to transport Bath stone to London, but that’s a whole other story.

[notamermaid]

Two river cruise ships on the Main have made the headlines. First: the absolutely close call of a near bad accident. Night before last, a barge inadvertently turned itself and blocked the whole width of the river near Neustadt. A river cruise ship was approaching the barge. Luckily the captain saw the vessel blocking the river on his radar in the nick of time and did an emergency stop. The river cruise ship stopped about 20 to 30 metres before the barge. The police reported that in the case of a collision they would have expected heavy damage with many injured. 175 passengers are reportedly on board the ship.

 

Second: a river cruise ship got stuck in the lock of Kleinostheim at Aschaffenburg. The MS Spirit of the Rhine had hit the lock gate which made it inoperable. The ship had to stay inside the lock during the whole night. This morning divers repaired the gate and the ship has since sailed on. Over 200 people are on board.

 

In the second case I would like to slightly doubt the wording of the report, i.e. the text of the newspaper I am giving a condensed translated version of. According to marinetraffic.com the accident happened in the lock approach and the river cruise ship stopped in the few metres before the lock gate, remaining there indeed all night. The track shows the locking process in the chamber itself for this morning. The unfortunate track recorded, this is where she was waiting during the night:

 

Not much damage sustained and all passengers fine, according to the report.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The lock accident reports tend to put the damage at the lock gate and the ship within the lock chamber. Oh well, I will leave it at that and return on the map to the spot of the first incident. Neustadt is between Lohr and Wertheim, it looks a nice hilly region at the river. Certainly a small place one can easily overlook. On marinetraffic.com I have spotted this boat docking at Neustadt today:

 

The guys on Binnenschifferforum happened to draw my attention to this small vessel and the fact that there is a Hafenfest at Neustadt this weekend, meaning today and tomorrow. Celebrating a small harbour with a festival sounds fun. I was wondering though why this boat being at the festival may be special. It turns out that the MS Willi is a historic vessel, 115 years old this year! "She" is a peniche of Freycinet size for the French canals and is lovingly looked after by a Swiss club: https://www.historische-binnenschifffahrt.com/schiff/

 

If you happen to be sailing past you may see something of the event and spot the "Willi".

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

To another "Hafenfest". Frankfurt, the main embarkation port on the Main river, is celebrating its Osthafen: https://www.osthafenfestival.de/der-osthafen/

There appears to be no English pages for the harbour but the photos give an impression of what this industrial area looks like. This is where you are most likely to embark these days. The reason may be that the official docking places on the river embankment have no car access. The docking on the river at the city centre:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Let us have brief look back at June. The Rhine and the Danube flooded, so what happened on the Main? This is Würzburg gauge:

 

Yes, the river rose to a mild flooding level for just three days, not reaching the figure of 340cm (river traffic ban). So issues on the Main that river cruisers may have experienced along the way will have been almost entirely at the low bridges.

 

We had the curious case of the weather front favouring the South of Germany with therefore not a huge amount of rain coming into Main basin from the river's Northern tributaries.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Last night a river cruise ship hit a buoy between Frankfurt and Hanau. Unfortunately, its chain got caught in the ships propeller so the vessel has sustained some damage and it was sent by the police to the harbour in Hanau for assessment. That is where the Thurgau Gold is now:

 

A bit of background to this. The Thurgau Gold is a new river cruise ship for Thurgau Travel, a Swiss company, and was launched in 2023. True luxury by Swiss-European standards. It was sailing upstream when the accident happened. No one was injured, all good. I guess coaches are bringing the passengers to Miltenberg or another town for an excursion.

 

Hanau and the area is an industry and transport hub as you can see from the screenshot. There are a few smaller attractive places nearby but the section of the Lower Main is basically "the workhorse and money purse" of the river. Especially Frankfurt as regards the money. Hanau itself has an old Medieval core and a new planned town for Dutch and Hugenot refugees settled there in the 16th and 17th centuries. War and industry have very much changed its appearance.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Let us briefly look back at July at Würzburg gauge:

 

The river returned to normal levels and has not fluctuated much (ignore the computer glitch on 26 July). As the Main is lock controlled we should not see significantly falling levels now. The authorities maintain a level that is visible in the graph as the line ZS_I, which then ensures navigation in low water, i.e. the river is not allowed to fall to really low levels. And the navigation channel is kept at a depth of 2.50m or more.

 

It is of course all measured electronically but the gauge is nevertheless materially visible at the old spot at the old crane:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegel_Würzburg#/media/Datei:Wuerzburg_alter_kranen.jpg

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Recently I have been down the rabbit hole of research on Rhine, Main and wine. It started with Queen Victoria and ended with this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hochheim-Daubhäuschen-1-Asio.jpg

 

This "story" will take us to the very end of the Main, close to its mouth with the Rhine, but this place close to the industrial river, the city of Frankfurt and the airport is a nice surprise - full of wine and due to its setting away from the river is a contrast to what is around. On an elevation, the town overlooks the area and with little housing straddles the river:

 

notamermaid