Moselle panic: lock accident brings shipping traffic to a standstill!

Moselle panic: lock accident brings shipping traffic to a standstill!

The Moselle, a major waterway in Europe, has played a central role in the news in recent days, particularly due to incidents at the locks. These waterway connections are crucial for shipping as they connect Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland with the North Sea ports. The failure of a lock has widespread economic consequences, causing disruptions and congestion that significantly impact trade routes. How stern.de According to reports, a serious collision occurred in December 2024 when a cargo ship crashed into the Müden lock and closed it to a good 70 ships for several days.

After repairs to the Müden lock were completed in February 2025, another incident occurred. On July 7, 2025, a cruise ship rams a lock gate in St. Aldegund. Loud tagesschau.de The gate was damaged but is still functional. The current locks are only possible for ships traveling downstream of the Moselle, which leads to a traffic jam that could last for several days. The first lock takes approximately 45 minutes.

Problems at the St. Aldegund lock

The situation at the St. Aldegund lock shows how vulnerable the infrastructure on the Moselle is. The damaged gate was badly damaged by the collision, and travel up the river was made significantly more difficult due to the increased water pressure on the defective gate. A crisis team meeting is planned to assess the situation while divers are expected to assess the gate. Several passenger ships traveling between Luxembourg and Nuremberg had to stop during these incidents and could only be passed through in test operation after the passengers had to disembark. The mood on board couldn't be more tense, as many passengers were already detained.

As the head of the Mosel-Saar-Lahn Waterways and Shipping Authority, Stephan Momper, emphasizes, these incidents are coincidences that do not reflect the course of the last decades. The Moselle was expanded into an international shipping route in 1964 and to date 13 locks have been built over 270 kilometers. Although locks are necessary to overcome elevation differences and changing water levels, the industry is calling for additional dual-chamber locks to be installed to increase efficiency.

Economic impact and outlook

Transport on the Moselle has lost volume in recent years. From 13 million tons of goods in 2014, the number fell to 8.5 million tons of goods in 2024. Mainly bulk goods such as ores, metal waste and agricultural products are transported. The current situation at the lock could exacerbate this trend. However, operators of the Moselle port in Mertert are optimistic and hope that the situation will normalize as early as next week.

While necessary repairs to the locks are already underway, a new gate is expected to be installed in late September or early October to restore regular operations. The incident underlines the importance of a modern and reliable water transport infrastructure along the Moselle in order to better manage such failures in the future and not to cause further difficulties for the affected companies and passengers.