Rhine cargo ship afloat again after stranding by low water levels

A cargo ship stranded on a sandbank due to persistent low water levels in Germany's Rhine river, is afloat and heading for the Netherlands five days behind schedule, a company spokesman said, reported dpa.

The vessel has left the port of Dusseldorf. "The ship is on the Rhine and is now heading for Rotterdam," the spokesman for logistics company Mosolf told dpa.

The boat is carrying Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans from the carmaker's Dusseldorf plant.

The 135-metre ship ran aground on a sandbank on Monday amid low water levels and could not be freed despite attempts to adjust the cargo and use an anchor winch.

The ship was freed a day later after another cargo ship nudged it off the sandbank as it departed from the harbour itself.

The boat that had been stuck then returned to the harbour where some of the cargo was removed to reduce the load. It was permitted to resume its journey after a slight increase in the very low water levels.

A dispute broke out after the ship stranded, with the port authority saying the captain had misjudged the vessel's weight and draught. The logistics firm Mosolf disputed this, saying the harbour had been too shallow due to insufficient dredging.

The weight of the vans was not the main problem as the Sprinters are relatively light, said Jürgen Richter, the Mosolf manager responsible for operations management.

The 160 vans on board weighed in at just 390 metric tons, whereas the cargo ship's generally permitted payload is 3,500 tons, Richter said. There would have been room on the ship for 190 Sprinters, so the cargo volume had already been reduced, he added. After the ship was freed from the sandbank, a further 50 Sprinters were unloaded.

Water levels in the Rhine are unusually low, and are expected to remain so, due to a lasting drought, though levels rose marginally recently.