HAMBURG (Reuters) -Trials to reopen the Mosel river in western Germany to domestic freight shipping have initially been successful with ships able to use a damaged lock for sailing in both directions, navigation authorities said on Wednesday.
Shipping was stopped on the river, a key transit route for grains and rapeseed between Germany and France, after an accident involving a passenger vessel last week damaged a lock at Sankt Aldegund between the cities of Koblenz and Trier in western Germany.
If use of a damaged lock continues successfully in the coming days, shipping could be normalised on the river, inland waterways navigation agency WSA said.
The lock is examined after each vessel transit and has been holding up well. In addition, a diver will examine the lock below water at least once a week, the agency said.
A similar lock accident that halted shipping in December on the river, called the Moselle in France, led futures exchange operator Euronext to suspend physical delivery to river ports in eastern France for its rapeseed futures.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan, Editing by Bernadette Baum)
