Low water strands around 30 cargo ships on Bulgaria's stretch of the Danube
A freighter carrying fertilizer for Hungary has been anchored off Ruse for three months. The dredging fleet has been idle since August, and experts call for groynes like Austria's.
Symbolic image · Photo: XeresNelro / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Low water levels on the Danube have largely paralyzed inland shipping on the Bulgarian stretch of the river. Around 30 cargo ships have been stuck for months, according to a BNT report. The freighter Sveti Apostol Toma has been anchored off Ruse for a third month; it is loaded with fertilizer that was supposed to go to Hungary. The five-member crew works in 24-hour shifts. "The river has dried up, we can't go on," said a skipper who said he had never seen such low levels in 40 years.
Some shipowners have transferred cargo to barges, which makes transport more expensive and still remains risky on shallow stretches. Navigation with reduced loads is more feasible on the Romanian stretch, but hardly possible on the Bulgarian one, said helmsman Daniel Ivanov. Captain Ivo Stoyanov said the ship was losing valuable trips; wages are being paid, but daily allowances are not. The dredging fleet in Ruse has been idle since August, according to BNT.
Experts see the solution in river engineering works; in Austria and Hungary, the banks are reinforced with groynes. With transverse and longitudinal groynes, there would be water here year-round, too, Captain Stoyanov said. Such structures had already been planned, said engineer Valeri Ivanov of the Danube dredging fleet. Until rain raises the water level, the crews are waiting to be able to go home.