The container logistics specialist Contargo, which sends more than 60 % of its transports via inland waterway, is very strongly affected by the closure of the Rhine due to the accident of the “Waldhof”, the tank vessel which capsized with a cargo of acid. The logistics enterprise operates scheduled sailings transporting import/export containers from the seaports of Belgium and the Netherlands right up to Basel and back. “At present, 13 inland vessels which sail for us are held up on the Rhine. Our customers expect us to think of an alternative until the Rhine by St. Goar is open to shipping in both directions again,” says Contargo Managing Director Dr. Martin Neese. In order to meet the needs of its customers despite this situation Contargo – together with the port owner “Koblenzer Stadtwerken” (Koblenz city’s utilities company) – has organised a direct “trucking bypass” be-tween Koblenz and the terminals which are ‘cut off’. “The Koblenz Terminal, as an efficient trucking bridgehead, complements our rail bridgehead in Düsseldorf. In this way, while salvage work continues on the “Waldhof” we are able to secure the links to our terminals in Ludwigshafen, Wörth, Strasbourg, Ottmarsheim and Basel, but also to Frankfurt and Aschaffenburg. From Koblenz, we are maintaining transport by inland barge to and from the western seaports for all these terminals” says Arndt Puderbach, proxy and Terminal Manager at Contargo Kob-lenz.
All around the clock, containers that are bound for, or have arrived from, the seaports by barge are being transferred onto trucks to take or collect them from the terminals no longer accessible by inland waterway. At present the container terminal, situated in the Kesselheim district of Koblenz, has to process over one hundred extra trucks a day in addition to its usual business. “Now the trucking has settled into a regular rhythm,” Puderbach remarks, “but to begin we were even getting spontaneous, unbureaucratic help from the Koblenz Police in order to cope with the exceptionally heavy volume of traffic.” The logistics enterprise is receiving support from all sides. “Now our good, long-standing cooperation with the Stadtwerken Koblenz (SWK) has proved itself by enabling us to carry out these emergency measures, which are so important for our customers,” Puderbach expresses his satisfaction and adds “when we approached them, the SWK, who act as our container handling partner, did not hesitate but placed their crane operators at our disposal for continuous handling operations.”
The organising of this bridgehead transport is only possible due to the great round-the-clock personal commitment of many employees and partner enter-prises. By this emergency action, Contargo is making an important contribution by helping to supply industry, at least to some extent, with the goods and transport facilities that it so urgently needs.