Danube shipping
The Danube and its shipping have always been linked. On the 2,800 km long river or stream is inland waterways instead: Day excursion boats, cabin boats, cargo ships , motor boats and other types of ships drive on it. Here the river Danube , the historical development of Danube shipping and today's most important day trip shipping companies on the Danube will be presented.
Shipping on the Danube
Since the 20th century, the Danube has only been navigable for inland navigation from Kelheim , almost 500 kilometers below the source, over a total distance of 2,415 kilometers to the mouth . With the Main-Danube Canal , which opened in September 1992 and flows into the Danube near Kelheim, there is now a continuous waterway from the North Sea via the Rhine and Main to the Black Sea .
In inland navigation it is common to divide the Danube into three areas:
- Upper Danube from Kelheim to Komárom / Komárno
- Middle Danube from Komárom / Komárno to Turnu Severin
- Lower Danube from Turnu Severin to the mouth of the Black Sea.
The Danube is classified as a class VII inland waterway between kilometers 0–1140 , class VIa, b to Regensburg, class Vb from Regensburg and class II from the Main-Danube Canal to Kelheim. However, the Danube does not meet all classification criteria with regard to water depth and bridge clearance heights. Most of the Danube bridges are lower than the Rhine bridges. That is why container shipping , for example, is limited to three locations.
Development of Danube navigation
Waterway used before the Romans
The Danube is one of the oldest and most important European trade routes . Already in prehistoric times it served as a transport route for merchandise such as furs, which were mostly still transported along the river with simple rafts . The Roman Empire used large sections of the Danube as the northern border, the so-called wet Limes, and guarded it with patrol boats, Navis lusoria, and operated cargo shipping on the Danube. Until modern times, boats that had reached their port of destination after the long and at the time dangerous route were often dismantled and sold as timber. If the arduous and slow return journey on ships could not earn enough money, this was avoided. Typical for shipping on the Danube were therefore simple ship constructions such as Zillen (see also Ulmer Schachteln ) and Platten , which ran on the upper reaches from Ulm (on the Inn from Hall in Tirol ) and reduced wood consumption compared to building rafts. Larger barges with lengths of up to 30 meters and 2 tons of payload, the Kelheimer or Ulm Ordinary ships were occasionally loaded with worthwhile cargo such as wine, salt and the like. Ä. withdrawn upstream. As a rule, however, only small barges were pulled upstream with the belongings of the boatmen.
Boats could upstream only over the millennia towing along here Treppelpfade mentioned Leinpfade move forward. The boats were first pulled upstream by humans, and increasingly by draft animals from the 15th century onwards . In addition, after the abolition of the death penalty by Emperor Joseph II in the Habsburg Monarchy around 1787, for economic reasons and because it was supposed to be more deterrent and sensitive, convicts were instead used to tow on the Danube. However, many of the convicts did not survive this ordeal.
These later ship trains were strictly organized and consisted of up to 60 horses and just as many crew. One or more Kelheimers, also called Hohenau , were used as ships and always several barges and flats as functional ships for cordage, horses and supplies. Because of the ramified river system with changing shoals, such a ship train was very slow. Often it was only a few kilometers ahead in a day. Often the river side had to be changed with the horses; Weather and water conditions also hindered progress.
Steamboat trip on the upper Danube
With the advent of steam shipping and later the locomotives , the decline of historical Danube shipping began; the last ship trains were pulled upstream around 1900. In 1812 the first Danube steamship was put into operation in Vienna . A short time later, in 1829, the first Danube steamship company was launched. This made the ships faster, for example the first steamship Franz I made the descent from Vienna to Budapest in 14 hours 15 minutes in 1830. The ascent from Budapest to Vienna took 48 hours 20 minutes.
A shipping company founded in Regensburg in 1835 opened its own shipyard and launched the first steam-powered German ship here, on August 25, 1837. After several successful test drives, the ship was officially christened on October 17, 1837 in the name of Ludwig I. Die An engineer Röntgen had provided construction plans after seasoned shipbuilders had given the steam drive no chance. From 1839 the steamship Ludwig I ran according to a fixed timetable.
From September 1837 the ship Maria Anna sailed the Vienna – Linz route and back. One of the last examples of a Danube steamship, the side-wheel tugboat Ruthof , can be viewed as a museum ship in Regensburg . The ship was built in 1922/1923 by the shipyard Christof Ruthof for Bayerischer Lloyd . From the middle to the end of the 19th century, chain tugs were also flourishing , "pulling themselves up" the river using steam engines on a chain that had previously been firmly laid in the river's fairway. Such chains were first laid for the Vienna – Pressburg route, and in 1891 also at Ybbs and Regensburg.
Originally the Danube was an open trading river, usable for everyone, but every bank country took trade tariffs. In the Peace of Paris in 1856, the right to free trade on the Danube was codified for the first time and a European Danube Commission was founded, based on the provisions of the Vienna Congress Act of 1815 on free navigation. 92 years later, on August 18, 1948, at the Belgrade Conference in the Convention on the Regulation of Shipping on the Danube, this right was re-established: ships of all flags are allowed to sail on the Danube, only warships of foreign flags are allowed to sail on the Danube prohibited. The International Danube Commission monitors compliance with the rules and the maintenance of the navigability . The Danube Shipping Police Ordinance applicable in Germany is based on their specifications.
From 1946 to 1955 (at that time part of Austria was under Soviet occupation ) "the Russians" (as the Soviet soldiers are called colloquially to this day), with their administration of USIA , established their own economic empire in the Soviet zone that could not be controlled by Austrian authorities. to the u. a. the oil production in Marchfeld and the Austrian Danube shipping belonged.
Shipping since the end of the 20th century
The current speed is not more than 10 km / h even at high tide - as long as it is still through the locks - the formerly notorious cauldrons such as the Iron Gate or the current near Grein have been defused by barrages and can be overcome without any problems.
Various types of ships have been sailing the Danube since around the 1990s. In addition to around 100 river cruise ships, which set off for multi-day cruises mainly between Passau, Vienna, Budapest and the Black Sea, there are many cargo ships and numerous day excursion ships on the Danube.
The vortices, which are often quite important , take getting used to, but are not dangerous for the attentive helmsman . Only the use of an autopilot is of course severely restricted, at least in the area of the upper Danube, and at low tide also where the fairway occasionally narrows from several kilometers to a few hundred meters wide. This also enables the use of container ships for the first time in this area . A large container terminal has been built in Ruse (Bulgaria) that is connected to a railway line. On the lower Danube to the northern border of Romania, push convoys of up to 10 units - one push boat and nine push barges, which results in a transport capacity of 15,000 t - are used, on the middle Danube to the northern border of Hungary with up to five units and in upper area with three units. A large part of the freight consists of bulk goods such as coal and building materials.
Regulations by the Hungarian government at the beginning of 2012, which reduced the number of barges in push convoys and limited their draft to values that are usually only driven at low tide , led to massive interventions in the cargo area . This (artificially) greatly reduces transport capacities and increases transport costs.
Expansion of the Danube - The free flowing Danube between Straubing and Vilshofen
Since the Main-Danube Canal went into operation in 1992, there has been a shipping connection from Rotterdam to the Black Sea. With normal water, the Danube on this stretch is designed for ships with a draft of up to 2.50 m; at extremely low tide, the navigable draft between Straubing and Vilshofen can decrease to 1.60 m. In this case, the passing ships have to be partially unloaded ( emptied ), and the unloaded cargo is then transported along the Danube by a freight train. Normally, the unloading takes place in Passau on the ascent and, if necessary, the ship is reloaded in Regensburg. Usually Regensburg is the port of destination anyway. If the ship comes out of the Main-Danube Canal, i.e. when descending, it is emptied in Regensburg and reloaded in Passau.
The approximately 70 km long section of the Danube between Straubing and Vilshofen is one of the last free flowing sections of the Danube in Europe. There were plans for this area to expand the Danube, which is designated as a federal waterway from Kelheim to the German-Austrian border, to a year-round draft of 2.50 m. After years of dispute, there were two extension variants left, the 'variant A' and the 'variant C 2.80'. Variant A, desired by the Bundestag resolution from 2002, was limited to river engineering measures and retained the ecologically beneficial flow. Variant C 2.80 provided for the cutting of the Danube loop Mühlhamer Loop near Aicha with a piercing canal with a barrage . This variant was sometimes required by the state of Bavaria. If variant C 2.80 had been implemented, the water would have been backed up into the Isar estuary .
In January 2013, about eight months before the 2013 state elections , the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) made a decision: there would be no barrage during his term of office. Seehofer 's coalition partner at the time, the FDP, had previously argued against the barrage; likewise the three opposition parties in the Bavarian state parliament.
Barges in the Danube countries
In contrast to the Rhine and its tributaries, the more economical push and tug shipping is predominantly used in the Danube countries. There are 325 motorized goods ships and 24 motor tankers registered. The pusher and tug fleet comprises 298 push boats , 358 tugs and 104 push tugs . There are also 1,906 push barges and 1,192 tugboats, as well as 127 passenger ships , numerous excursion ships and ferries .
- Total number = 4,334 (for comparison: total number of states bordering the Rhine = 12,134 )
Types of cargo ships on the Danube
-
RoRo ships for transporting semi-trailers .
L = 114.0m, W = 22.8m, D = 1.65m, load capacity 1,372 tonnes or 49 trailers, 2 × 910 kW - Ro-Ro lighter.
L = 76.5m, W = 11.4m, D = 2.7m, load capacity 1,800 tons or 42 trailers on two decks, 220 kW bow thruster - Standard push boat L = 34.6m, W = 11.0m, D = 2.0m, 2 × 880 kW
- Large push boats, L = 40.45m, W = 13.0m, D = 2.0m, 3 × 1,294 kW, can push up to twelve barges each 1,700 tons.
- Push-tugboat TTR 2.000, L = 57.60m, W = 8.7m, D = 1.7m, 1,472 kW
- Icebreaker, L = 42.4m, W = 10.3m, D = 2.0m, 2x700 kW diesel generators on two 560 kW azimuth drives.
- Motor ship DNL 2,000 L = 101.8m, W = 14.18m, D = 2.4m, 1,030 kW, 2,000 tons
- Motor ship DNL 1,000 L = 79.50m, W = 10.16m, D = 2.0m, 721 kW, 900 tons
- Motor ship MNL 1,500 L = 106.0m, W = 11.20m, D = 2.40m, 1,030 kW, 1,500 tons.
- Lighter KVC 1,000 L = 80.0m, W = 10.0m, D = 1.9m, 900 tons (tugboat)
- Lighter TTC 1,500 L = 79.2m, W = 11.0m, D = 2.4m, 1,570 tons (tanker)
- Ro-Ro lighter L = 82.0m, W = 11.4m, D = 1.6m, 970 tons
- Push barges with dimensions of 38.25 × 11.40 × 2.50 meters and a load capacity of 1,100 tons also operate on the lower Danube.
Transport volume in the Danube countries in 2004
- Ukraine 9,648,800 tons of which 866,600 tons cleared
- Moldova cleared 21,000 tons of which 21,000 tons
- Romania 18,981,000 tons of which 13,144,000 tons were cleared
- Bulgaria 5,119,700 of which 4,570,200 t were cleared
- Serbia 7,888,000 tons of which 5,426,000 tons were cleared
- Croatia 667,000 tons of which 553,000 tons cleared
- Hungary 4,953,000 tons of which 2,602,000 tons were cleared
- Slovakia 2,921,000 of which 424,000 t cleared
- Austria 8,089,400 tons of which 6,263,000 tons were cleared
- Germany 8,476,000 tons
- Total = 66,764,900 tons
More ships in the stream
Ferries still play an important role, transporting residents and tourists (e.g. cyclists on the Danube Cycle Path ) from one bank of the Danube to the other. They are in action where the construction of a permanent bridge would be too costly. The ferries are maintained by the neighboring communities and are mostly small diesel-powered ships or roller ferries driven by the current. Well-known ferry routes are Mariaposching – Stephansposching, Weltenburg – Stausacker, Arndorf-Spitz, Weissenkirchen-St. Lorenz, Obernzell ,prüfunging or Korneuburg – Klosterneuburg.
Danube-Black Sea Canal
The Danube-Black Sea Canal ( Cernavodă Canal ) branches off at km 300 . This canal has two locks and shortens the route to the Black Sea. It is approved for single drivers up to 5,000 tons and maximum dimensions of 138.3 × 16.8 × 5.5 meters. For push convoys, the dimensions are 296 × 22.8 × 3.8 meters. At Poarta Albă branches off the northern arm, a canal connection to the Midia-Năvodari oil refinery . This section may be navigated with the following dimensions: 119.4 m length, 11.4 m width and 3.8 m draft.
Day trip company
There you will find an overview of the most important day trip shipping companies in Germany , Austria , Slovakia and Hungary .
Recreational boating
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the last Balkan War , pleasure boat tourism has also increased significantly. The entire Danube is now easily navigable even for inexperienced boaters. Exact maps should by no means be dispensed with, as the tonnage alone is not sufficient as a navigation aid for leisure boats. There is a shortage of marinas (as of 2012). Since 1956, the Tour International Danube (TID) between Germany and the Black Sea has been held annually by recreational athletes with kayaks and rowing boats.
Due to the low lock and bridge heights, sailing boats have to put the mast on the Main and Main-Danube Canal , but can sail again from the Iron Gate - the last bridge has a clearance height of 21 m and can be raised to 29 m.
literature
-
Donauschiffahrt Vol. 2, series of publications by the Schiffahrtsmuseum Regensburg eV working group, 1984. In it:
- Otto Rathmayer: The beginnings of steam shipping on the Bavarian Danube
- Hans Pilz: The South German Danube Steam Shipping Corporation. The story of an almost forgotten Danube shipping company.
- Karl Ludwig: Danube navigation in World War II / details from 1944 and 1945
- Erwin Hauke: Donaudampfschifffahrt - postcards tell a story, Volume 1: From Regensburg to the Black Sea . bahnmedien.at, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-9503921-9-7 .
- Erwin Hauke: Donaudampfschifffahrt - postcards tell a story, Volume 2: Ships and barges of the Danube shipping companies . bahnmedien.at, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-903177-00-0 .
Web links
- Information about Danube shipping
- Information on inland navigation on the Danube (Dutch)
- Deutscher Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverein eV
- Danube Shipping Police Ordinance
- www.via-donau.org
- Danube ports on danube-logistics.info (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Eberhard Schmidt: Introduction to the history of the German criminal justice system . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995, ISBN 978-3-525-18115-7 , pp. 256–258 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ From Danube Shipping Vol. 2
- ^ Museum ship Ruthof / Érsekcsanád , Donau-Schiffahrts-Museum Regensburg
- ^ Danube Commission
- ↑ Containerterminal Russe see Balgarski Darschawni Schelesnizi # Containerterminals
- ↑ Dispute over Hungary limits for Danube freighters ( memento of the original from August 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On Vienna international , May 9, 2012; Retrieved May 10, 2012
- ↑ Directory E, Ser. No. 6 of the Chronicle ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration
- ↑ FAZ of January 24, 2013 (p. 4): Seehofer opts for the gentle expansion of the Danube
- ^ Danube ferries Upper Austria , Danube ferries Lower Austria
