Danube water levels 2023 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[busyama]

Curious about the water levels on the Danube starting in Budapest. We are scheduled on a Viking cruise end of March and would appreciate information that would help us enjoy the river cruise. 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, CastleCritic said:

That could have gone so much worse, imagine if it had happened on the approaches to the lock rather than in an already man made coffer dam.

Oh yes. The river is very cold and it is much harder to get to dry land on the wide approach to the lock, so the crew were very lucky. And the impact to the environment could be kept to a minimum.

 

1 hour ago, CastleCritic said:

it would certainly affect some of the other traffic Viking for one who often uses Regensburg I believe.

It is going well as regards time, i.e. the press release and regional newspaper give me confidence that they will manage to get this sorted by the time the locks are scheduled to reopen. Yes, it would affect river cruises going to or from Regensburg, which includes the Grand European of course.

 

Have a great time on the AmaMagna.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

29 minutes ago, busyama said:

Curious about the water levels on the Danube starting in Budapest. We are scheduled on a Viking cruise end of March and would appreciate information that would help us enjoy the river cruise. 

Welcome to CC. I am a sure you will enjoy your river cruise and Budapest immensely. But it is good to be prepared. So here are the graphs for Hungary, the Danube and tributaries: https://www.hydroinfo.hu/en/hidelo/hidelo_graf_duna.html

Just click on Budapest where the towns are listed. It is not plenty but high enough for cruising right now from what I have observed over the years. Please note though that I cannot give details of what happens in Hungary at a level that is significantly lower than this, I am not familiar with calculating this. I can only do Germany.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

The "Achim" has re-emerged from the water in Geisling lock, that is to say the water has been pumped off so far that the whole ship is visible. You can see the damage in the video. During the course of today the inspection is being done and a decision made whether the barge can be taken out of the lock as a whole or needs to be cut into sections: https://video.mittelbayerische.de/geislinger-schleuse-bergung-von-frachter-achim-steht-bevor/

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Wow what a huge lock, I could be wrong and I defer to our specialists here but it looks like she was loaded incorrectly judging by the damage midships

[notamermaid]

28 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Wow what a huge lock, I could be wrong and I defer to our specialists here but it looks like she was loaded incorrectly judging by the damage midships

I had been wondering, too, if there was too much stress on the hull midships. Basic rules of loading and unloading are of course known to everyone... We may find out what happened to the Achim exactly in the reports. A ship did break in two while loading in the harbour at Kehl on the Rhine several weeks ago.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A quick look at Pfelling. The level has fallen steadily now for a few days and tonight the figure is 385cm. This is good and despite the forecast giving a wide margin of error in the next 48 hours the most likely expected figure is no lower than 370cm and both high and low predictions are pleasant figures as well. I dare say this looks promising for the next few days as the trend is more towards up rather than down further upstream.

 

notamermaid

 

[reeves35]

In relation to the Continental Divide that separates the Rhine basin from the Danube basin, is this divide also considered the effective border between western Europe and central Europe?

[Canal archive]

It looks like there are at least three different groups with different ideas on where the divide is, all of them however class the divide as a country border not a geophysical one. I suspect it’s classed by the boffins as a watershed be it one of epic proportions.

[notamermaid]

8 hours ago, reeves35 said:

In relation to the Continental Divide that separates the Rhine basin from the Danube basin, is this divide also considered the effective border between western Europe and central Europe?

An interesting question. I do not think so. The geographical and the geopolitical views overlap. Germany can be put to West or Central; when we had an "iron curtain" West and Central (affectively "East" to the amateur view, i.e. looking at it from Germany) were distinguished more according to that political affiliation. There appear to be different views on this. The continental divide for the water also does not run in a line that is West, Central, East, it is more complicated. These are the basins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_watershed#/media/File:Europäische_Wasserscheiden.png

Notice the divide that goes right through Britain. The Thames and the Rhine belong to the same wider geographical water systems. Way in the distant past they were connected, some reports even say that the Thames was a tributary of the Rhine. But that is a different story. Perhaps for the water cooler thread.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Interestinggggggggggg

[notamermaid]

Update from Geisling lock: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/gesunkener-donaufrachter-soll-wieder-schwimmfaehig-gemacht-werden,TZ3by73

 

The plan is to float the barge. For that the hull will be stabilized with steel bars and the cracks sealed. Then the ship can be pulled out of the lock and to Austria - I assume to the ÖSWAG shipyard in Linz - as there is no place along the Bavarian Danube to get the ship into a dry dock.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Fascinating challenge she must have sprung her plates where she is buckled. Why on earth are ships she’s? I’m glad I don’t get buckled (or maybe I do, is it a euphemism) or spring my hummmmm. 
Although locks are dangerous places the water acts differently in and around them it’s bad enough on our canals but the size of the waterways in Europe causes more challenges. 

[notamermaid]

"Mud, mud, glorious mud..." Only for the hippopotamus of the song, in the locks it is not a good thing but inevitable to accumulate. So you clean it out. It is the big Spring cleaning - the first in six years - at Hilpoltstein lock. So they get all the mud out from the system, meaning in the lock and adjoining pipes, shafts and tunnels, etc. There is an audio but you do not need to listen to it, the photo and text are impressive enough: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/grossputz-an-deutschlands-hoechster-schleuse-in-hilpoltstein,TZFPNJB

The "Grand Clean" with inspection of the construction costs 1.5 million euros.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Wow!

[notamermaid]

The Danube in Bavaria is doing pretty well. Pfelling gauge is at 362cm. There is an upward trend further upstream, nothing to drastic. Unless the weather changes a lot, this looks good for pleasant levels for sailing for several days to come. Nothing too low, nothing too high.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Major strike action expected in Germany on 27 March

 

This will affect the public/services sector, including airports and trains: https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/03/23/german-unions-call-for-widespread-transport-strike-on-monday

 

It could also involve the locks on the Danube in Germany, it has been mentioned that at least some lock personnel will be part of the strike. I have seen the North of Germany mentioned and the Neckar river.

 

Pfelling gauge is fine. 380cm. Trend is for up, but only slowly. Looking good till the end of the month.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

The barge "Achim" is still in Geisling lock. Over the weekend 26 tons of steel have been welded to the hull. That is supposed to stabilize the ship. Next step is to let water back into the lock and see if the barge can float. The plan is to have everything sorted by Wednesday when the lock at Straubing reopens after its scheduled inspection.

 

notamermaid

 

[RobInMN]

On 3/26/2023 at 7:57 AM, notamermaid said:

Major strike action expected in Germany on 27 March

 

This will affect the public/services sector, including airports and trains: https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/03/23/german-unions-call-for-widespread-transport-strike-on-monday

 

It could also involve the locks on the Danube in Germany, it has been mentioned that at least some lock personnel will be part of the strike. I have seen the North of Germany mentioned and the Neckar river.

 

Pfelling gauge is fine. 380cm. Trend is for up, but only slowly. Looking good till the end of the month.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

On the Danube, we boarded AmaMagna on Sunday at Vilshofen. We were going to go overnight to Passau, but due to the announced strike, we left last night early so that we could make it through the locks last night. I think we arrived in Passau before midnight.

 

[notamermaid]

42 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

We were going to go overnight to Passau, but due to the announced strike, we left last night early so that we could make it through the locks last night.

Thank you for reporting. That is good planning from Amawaterways and the ship crew. Hope you have had a great day in Passau and everything goes smoothly from here.

 

notamermaid

 

[Glen Lismore]

We are leaving Budapest on Scenic Crystal tonight 28/03 heading to Amsterdam on what was supposed to be 15 nights and have now been informed our actual ship time will end in Regensberg as they apparently can't get through the lock and we will have to travel the rest of the way by bus. Very disappointed to say the least.  

Edited March 28, 2023 by Glen Lismore
Misspelled

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Glen Lismore said:

We are leaving Budapest on Scenic Crystal tonight 28/03 heading to Amsterdam on what was supposed to be 15 nights and have now been informed our actual ship time will end in Regensberg as they apparently can't get through the lock and we will have to travel the rest of the way by bus. Very disappointed to say the least.  

That is disappointing. I am a bit surprised as lock maintenance was scheduled to be on till 31 March anyway. But I am not familiar with details so perhaps you miss it just by a day or even less? Of course, if timing is off on such a long journey you cannot make it to Amsterdam on the day, meaning the cruise after you cannot start on time so effectively they would run the ship to Amsterdam without the scheduled docking for passengers? Not sure that I can find out much more from the news - the captains have better access to the shipping info than me of course - but I will have another look at what is going on at Geisling lock and beyond.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

By the way, strike: by law this "one day walk away from work" is regulated, so it can only be one or two days anyway. There is no strike action announced for Easter.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The barge "Achim" in Geisling lock has been declared "fit for transport" by the authorities, i.e. it can be pulled out of the lock and transported to a "parking place" nearby - if the steel girders hold and little water gets into the hull. Today the ship will be floated in the lock to see what happens. If all goes well, the barge can leave the lock tomorrow: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/gesunkenes-frachtschiff-achim-soll-wieder-schwimmen,TZiEyb4

 

Apparently, according to the report, it is not possible to transport the ship further right now. When proper transport can be arranged, it looks as if the ship's journey will end in Bratislava, not Linz.

 

Maintenance is scheduled to end very soon, i.e. in the text it is reiterated that traffic is to run smoothly again from this coming weekend at all locks.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Glen Lismore]

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

That is disappointing. I am a bit surprised as lock maintenance was scheduled to be on till 31 March anyway. But I am not familiar with details so perhaps you miss it just by a day or even less? Of course, if timing is off on such a long journey you cannot make it to Amsterdam on the day, meaning the cruise after you cannot start on time so effectively they would run the ship to Amsterdam without the scheduled docking for passengers? Not sure that I can find out much more from the news - the captains have better access to the shipping info than me of course - but I will have another look at what is going on at Geisling lock and beyond.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the response,  we are actually not due to reach Regensberg till Sunday the 2nd of April so I am surprised that scenic is saying we are not going to be able to pass through.  

Also do you know if the barge has been removed from the lock as yet ?