In an earlier post, I made reference to the fact that our progress was assisted by the flow of the river. This photograph is an attempt to indicate the flow past one of the navigation markers in the river.
While the flow is in one direction, toward the sea at Rotterdam, the same cannot be said for the traffic on this busy thoroughfare. “One of the great river trade routes of the world” is the claim. A constant stream of bulk cargo is shipped from the Port of Rotterdam to the industrial centres such as Duisburg & Mannheim situated on the river. It is not uncommon to see two barges in a single stretch of the river.
This ‘double’ barge (below) passed so close to us that I could not fit the whole into one picture. The front section had just three pieces of farm machinery, while the powered portion was fully laden with cars and vans headed for sale.
This bulk carrier was obviously fully laden with cargo, so much so that there was little freeboard showing above the water line.
Many of the barges carry one or two cars. The barge captains (& family or crew) live on their ships, but when they are in port, they need to get around. So they take their cars with them. Obvious really! Imagine filling in the motor vehicle insurance form and answering the question “Where is the vehicle normally garaged?”!
In addition to freight, there are plenty of cruise operators, doing Basel to Amsterdam (as we were) or similar. This one was in a hurry and overtook us. Perhaps the skipper had a lunch date in Koblenz!
In contrast to our seven day cruise, the Köln-Dusseldorfer line operates day cruises and offers function centre facilities.
In addition to the river traffic, railway lines and roads follow the river on both banks, serving both freight and passenger needs. This ubiquitous Contiki tour coach represents the enormous coach tour presence in this part of the world.
How is it all managed? Our tour director explained that there is a well defined code for all traffic on the river. For example, some vessels are so long that they cannot be passed or overtaken on tighter bends in this relatively narrow stretch of the Rhine. These vessels are given priority, or made to wait, until other traffic s clear.
So, there are signals, not red, amber and green, but like the one below. With twenty seven possible signals from these signs, I’m glad I don’t need to learn what they mean.
I hope you have enjoyed these three posts about the Romantic Rhine as much as I have enjoyed revisiting it with the photos.
