Rhine River Flooding Cuts Off Germany's Frankfurt Airport

摘要

The worst flooding ever seen on Germany's main waterway has halted barge supplies to Frankfurt airport, creating challenges for flag carrier Lufthansa. The German airline is accustomed to handling barge disruptions during the summer months caused by low river Rhine water levels, but has not dealt on this scale with the wintertime corollary of massive flooding caused by melting snow (JFI Sep.22'08,p1). Unusually warm weather has melted December's record snowfall, forcing the closure for much of January of a busy 60-mile stretch of the river between Cologne and Koblenz. The Rhine is the main supply route for Germany and its closure essentially cuts off Europe's largest oil consumer from the region's main refiners in Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) barge market. The water level at Cologne in northern Germany hit 8.85 meters on Jan. 10 - well above the 8.3 meters operational maximum above which barges can't safely fit under the many bridges that cross the Rhine. The water level dropped to 7.69 meters on Jan. 13 before rising again to 8.69 meters on Jan. 16. By Friday Jan. 21, the water at Cologne was back below 6 meters.