Green light for German Danube shipping on return from flood

Through-shipping on the German Danube resumed Sunday when the the last flood-closed 50 km (31 miles) stretch of the river returned to below flood levels, a duty officer at the Danube Authority's Regensburg station said Monday.
The 550-km Main River-Danube Canal system, linking the Danube in southeastern Germany with the Rhine, at Mainz, in western Germany was also clear for shipping, the duty officer said.
The reopening of the Danube marked the end of a two-week closure to through-shipping in the system from flooding that transformed many areas along its trajectory into small seas, causing evacuations of thousands of inhabitants and entailing massive cleanups and repair work that will be underway for weeks to come.
The German Rhine-Main-Danube system links shipping from the North Sea in the Netherlands to the Black Sea in southeastern Europe via Germany and nine other central and southeastern European countries. The entire trajectory is nearly 3,500 km long.
Meanwhile, the entire Rhine remains free of flooding since it reopened to through-shipping last week. Water levels continue to recede on it and the Danube and weather forecasts are for warm, largely dry weather in most Rhine areas the next few days with scarce patches of heavy rain in a few areas.
The German Elbe in the east and most canal systems running to and from it are still dealing with extensive flooding as waves from its Czech Republic and southern tributary sources continue to move through the Elbe. But levels are edging down from south to north and its main waves are seen moving through its northern areas on to the North Sea this week.
Source: Platts