Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 3, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFreight shipping on Germany's Mosel River is blocked after a lock was damaged by a passenger ship. The river is crucial for grain and rapeseed transit between Germany and France.
HAMBURG (Reuters) -Freight shipping on the river Mosel in west Germany has been blocked to shipping after an accident involving a passenger ship that damaged a lock, river police said on Thursday.
The river, known as the Moselle in France, is an important transit route for grains and rapeseed between Germany and France. Transit along it was halted after an accident on Wednesday damaged a lock at Sankt Aldegund between Koblenz and Trier, a police spokesperson said.
Vessels cannot pass the Sankt Aldegund lock in either direction, the spokesperson said.
Technical experts on Thursday were examining the lock, and it is not yet possible to comment on the level of damage or say how long the impact on shipping will last, a spokesperson for the river navigation authority WSA added.
The river was closed to inland waterways shipping in December after an accident that damaged a lock at Mueden south of Koblenz, and only reopened in February as lengthy repairs were needed.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan and Gus Trompiz, editing by)
The blockage was caused by an accident involving a passenger ship that damaged a lock.
The Sankt Aldegund lock is currently closed to vessels in both directions.
Technical experts are examining the lock, but it is not yet possible to determine the level of damage or the duration of the disruption.
The river was previously closed in December after another accident that damaged a lock at Mueden, reopening in February after repairs.
The Mosel River is an important transit route for grains and rapeseed between Germany and France.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
