DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) has highlighted the difficulties in switching to rail and road freight as record-low water levels continue to seriously disrupt navigation on the Rhine. “The current availability on road and rail is already very tight,” Florian Wöbb, DGF’s Head of Intermodal ICC, in Germany, underlined at a webinar held earlier today,
During the ‘Rhine Low Water: What Shippers Need to Know’ webinar, participants heard how reduced barge capacity is leading to longer transit times, rising transportation costs and increasing pressure on alternative rail and road networks. “Finding a truck can currently take up to two weeks in advance and for rail even longer, indeed, getting longer still, because many customers are deciding to switch modes and rail offers a certain security.”
He continued: “However, shippers and forwarders are confronted with six week-long pre-notice times with regard to rail bookings so shippers will need to show some patience here. If rail is the future – currently its modal share of inland freight going in and out of the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges is estimated at approximately15% -then capacity must be made available.”
Commenting on the specific rail options at the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges, DGF’s VP and global head of China Rail/Multimodal and ICC Europe. “Of course, these exist but at the moment it is all about the availability of rail capacity and ramping up more which is proving something of a challenge. It’s not just about adding more trains. Obtaining new slots in the these ports is tough. There’s a run on capacity and everybody is impacted and seeking options before going to trucks.”
Wöbb added: “The key message here is that an early booking saves the space. We now have lead times of six weeks (for rail bookings) and this could rise further next week.”
Additional rail connection
In its latest service update issued earlier today, tri-modal freight transport operator Contargo, said that water levels on the Rhine continued to decline. All navigation-relevant gauges along the Rhine are now recording extremely low water levels. The Kaub gauge is approaching the critical level of 10 cm. As a result, barge traffic at this bottleneck remains significantly restricted, as only a limited number of barges are able to pass this section with substantially reduced cargo loads, it noted.
Contargo underlined that it continued to rely on additional land bridge solutions and rail services while working intensively on further alternative transport concepts to minimise the impact of the low water situation on shippers. From 17 August, Contargo will offer an additional rail connection between Wörth, near the French border and Karlsruhe, and Neuss, located further north near Düsseldorf.
Truck capacity has been added to support a land bridge between the Lower Rhine, Middle Rhine and Upper Rhine regions.
