Decommissioned ferry at Kornsand to leave again after dredging work

The Rhine does not carry as little water as it has for at least 200 years. That is why the ferry between Trebur-Kornsand and Nierstein had to stop operating last week. After three days of dredging work, the "Landskron" will now sail again on Tuesday morning - albeit with restrictions. For three days, dredging took place in the Rhine near Trebur-Kornsand, now the ferry "Landskron" is expected to be able to sail again.

The operators announced on Monday evening that the work was successful. On Tuesday morning at 6 o'clock, the ferry service should start again from Nierstein. However, due to the still low water level, the ferry cannot be fully loaded. Because the Rhine carries so little water as it has not in at least 200 years, the ferry had to stop operating last Thursday.

The special excavator should clear the fairway to such an extent that the "Landskron" can dock again. "It's an absolute disaster," says ferry captain Michael Bleul, who has accompanied the dredging operation on site since Friday, on Monday morning at the Hessenschau. "We have no income, but high expenses," he complained. Normally, the ferry transports around 300 to 400 cars from one shore to the other in one day.

Cornelia Dries, Managing Director of Rheinfähre Landskron GmbH, chose similarly clear words, she spoke of a "disaster". The excavator alone cost several thousand euros a day, and at the same time the personnel costs for twelve employees continued to run full-time. "We don't get any support, we have to carry everything ourselves." "This has never happened before" Dries did not give exact figures, but it became clear from her remarks: For the ferry Landskron, it is about economic survival. That's why the excavator kept going.

“We don't have an alternative,” says Dries, who can't remember going through a situation like this before: “This has never happened over such a long period of time." The excavator had advanced after the Rhine had fallen to a historically low level on Thursday and the ferry could no longer dock in corn sand. On Thursday, the level relevant to the ferry at Worms was minus 26 centimetres, on Monday it was minus 24 centimetres at noon. But according to the Rhineland-Palatinate Flood Forecast Centre, the level is expected to drop again in the next few days. What is a minus level?

A negative level means that the water level falls below a fixed zero point on the shore. The level indicates the distance to this zero point and not to the river bottom. The fairway at Worms is still about 1.9 metres deep at a level of zero. The level in Worms is considered a guide level for assessing the discharge processes of the Rhine, i.e. for the amount of water that flows in a certain time.

Originally, Bleul and Co. had hoped to be able to drive again on Saturday, but the dredging did not have the hoped-for effect. “We started it, so we'll keep going. We have to try," says Bleul, who also sees no alternative.

The only alternative is the rain, which causes the levels to rise again: "But there is nothing in sight." The Landskron ferry is not alone with its problems; at Kaub in Rhineland-Palatinate, the ferry also had to stop operating last week due to low water. The Rhine ferry near Gernsheim (Groß-Gerau) is currently only able to operate to a limited extent.