low water periods – Haeger & Schmidt Logistics

Under normal circumstances, HSW Logistics’ low-draught coasters travel directly between the UK or Norway and the Ruhr region.

But what happens when the water is extremely low, as it was this year in July and August?

The special strength of HSW coasters is that, generally speaking, the entire line operation on the North and Baltic Sees and on the Rhine can be covered by the fleet. During phases of extremely low water, the Rhine’s water levels are no longer sufficient for even these low-draught vessels. Thanks to the versatile possibilities within the HSL Group, the short-sea specialist also has the right solutions in this situation.

As HSW Managing Director Björn Zirotzki reports: “Together with the Division Inland Navigation, we can organise our logistics chains on the water effectively even in these extreme weather conditions and keep our line operations up and running. To this end, we divide transportation into two parts: The initial run between Duisburg and the seaports is covered by our group’s own inland waterways fleet. For the main part of the route, the cargo in the seaport is loaded directly from the barge onto the coaster.

In order to fully utilise coaster capacities of around 1,600 to 2,500 tons, two to three barges are generally needed for the first leg of the route. Given the draught restrictions, these barges cannot be fully loaded either, with their capacity capped at around only 900 tons. Zirotzki views flexibility as the most important aspect when dealing with such situations, which he illustrates by citing an example: “Normally we load up to 90 percent via the port of Rotterdam on a needs basis . During periods of extremely low water levels, as in this case, the port is often so overbooked that there are no free loading slots available. If this is so, we reroute our trafics via Amsterdam.”

HSW Logistics runs weekly short haul liner service in the short-sea business to the ports of Boston, Flixborough (Humber), Seaham in the UK and Fredrikstad, Horten, Kristiansand, Sandnes, Straume Mo i Rana in Norway.

The low water solution

Step 1

Steel products are loaded onto HSL’s own “MS Schwelgern” barge at the HSL terminal in Duisburg. Image source: Matthias Groß

Step 2

Direct transhipment from the “MS Schwelgern” barge to the “H&S Prudence” coaster takes place in Amsterdam.
Image source: Kapitänin MS „Schwelgern“ Svenja Bade

Step 3

Around 24 hours later, “H&S Prudence” is unloaded in the port of Boston.
Image source: Kapitän H&S Prudence, Igor Filchakov

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