Worsening weather can wreak havoc on inland container networks across northern Europe, leading to surcharges, insurance headaches, and delays.
Torrential rain last summer saw significant flooding along the Rhine sending water above the 8.25m mark, which led to stoppages and forced blockages up and down the river; two months on, severe drought all but halted activity, resulting in substantial surcharges for those that did get boxes on the water.
Issues surrounding weather, however, have only compounded long-running difficulties across Europe’s inland water network, with many calling for large-scale reform.
Sources within the sector have repeatedly said that operators need to be forced into better utilising the space on their vessels, with many sailing “heavily” under-utilised, leading to substantial, “now uniform” delays.
Indeed, barge operator Contargo is today reporting congestion of 67 hours in Antwerp, with shippers looking at delays of 57 hours in Rotterdam.
And these numbers are by no means outliers, with average waits of 40+ hours common over the past decade, with 24+ hours largely “expected” as a consequence of poor utilisation and a sense of intransigence among operators to resolve the structural problems in the sector.
Now, TT Club has warned that – based on historical data – cargo owners can expect to make a rising number of claims in the coming years as a consequence of “weather-related losses”.
The insurer noted that “these result from numerous types of damage, from navigational and berthing accidents to collapse of cranes and port equipment collisions, to container stacks blowing over, and of course flood damage to buildings and infrastructure”.
Mr Dalus added: “Emergency supplies and additional labour costs can accrue and increased maintenance, training and management downtime have to be factored-in.”
