ELEGANT LADY

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Latest news

Damaged lock gate returned to normal emergency operations

The St. Aldegund Moselle lock, which was damaged in the allision of the 'Elegant Lady' on July 2, has now returned to normal emergency operations. Locking operations were taking place upstream and downstream, but only during daylight hours between approximately 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., coordinated by the Mosel-Saar-Lahn Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA). The damaged gate is inspected once a week by divers. There are also multiple survey checks. A crisis team will decide at the beginning of next week whether emergency locking operations can continue until the new gate is installed. The new lock gate is expected to be delivered at the end of September from a manufacturer in Aschaffenburg. It is expected to be installed at the start of October within four to five days. The allision caused approximately €2.5 million in damage. The damaged gate was reinforced and repaired, and the lock has been operating in emergency mode ever since. For safety reasons, passenger ships continued to be locked only without their catering crew and guests. Ffor pleasure craft, there is a collective lock passage in both directions once a day. The reason why the lock only operates during daylight hours is that the gate is bent and protrudes slightly into the chamber, which is difficult to see in the dark.

More than 40 ships passed damaged lock at the weekend

By the evening of July 6, more than 40 ships had passed dwonstream through the Moselle lock in Saint Aldegund, which was damaged by the 'Elegant Lady'. Locking the ships upstream, however, is more complicated, as there is higher water pressure on the damaged gate. If all goes according to plan, the waiting ships will begin locking towards Trier on the afternoon of July 8. Although some ships had already set off toward Saint Aldegund on the afternoo of July 7, they will not be locked earlier. The order of priority will be determined by when the vessels entered the Moselle. This will be precisely recorded. Several shorter vessels have been selected to be the first to pass through the lock on July 8. Only if everything goes smoothly will the lock be opened. The lock process can generally be carried out as normal, but each passage takes significantly longer than usual because the damaged gate has to be inspected after each passage. Report with photos: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/rheinlandpfalz/swr-auf-der-mosel-warten-noch-schiffe-auf-notschleusungen-100.html

Investigations against captains launched

The Koblenz public prosecutor's office has started investigating the captains of the 'Elegant Lady' for the suspicion of endangering shipping traffic after the allision on July 2, which caused property damage of approximately 2.5 million euros. Five people were slightly injured, According to the preliminary assessment by the appointed expert, a technical defect is currently assumed. The high temperature in the engine room was said to have caused a failure of the shared power supply for the rudder propeller systems, which may have led to a loss of control of the ship. The first ships have now passed through the damaged St. Aldegund Moselle lock heading upstream. First, a 105-meter-long motorized cargo vessel loaded with iron ore was locked through, heading toward Dillingen upon the Saar, followed by several other ships, which passedthrough the lock in emergency operation. There have been no changes at the gate, and therte was optimism that this will continue until the new gate is completed. On the morning of July 8, a diver was sent to the lock gate for inspections. That could happen at the end of August or in September. There were still around 20 ships in front of the lock, waiting to be locked in upstream direction. So far, around 47 ships have been locked in the other direction. Passenger ships can also use the lock without guests on board. It is currently unclear when this restriction will be lifted.