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Upper Rhine closed for barge loadings as water at critical level: operators

London — Rhine water levels are at critically high levels and ports above the Duisburg area are starting to close down, barge operators said Friday.

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Water levels at the key Rhine choke point of Kaub, Germany, rose to 4.83 meters Friday, from 2.72 meters Sunday, due to a heavy flow into the river.

"Planning is difficult at the moment due to the high water and we expect some closure on the river Rhine," one operator said. "By the upper Rhine near Karlsruhe we have already the first closure, since this morning, and the next closure will come in the weekend in Cologne so it's not possible to go upstream."

The barge operator said the closures were expected to last for a couple of days. Another operator said Mainz and Koblenz were also closing down, and that the situation was likely to last about 48-60 hours when the water level was again expected to recede. "This happened one year ago as well," the second operator said.

Distillate traders, however, said the situation was unlikely to affect prices.

"Rhine closures due to high water will not be a problem I believe, because it might not last long, only a couple of days I expect - unless it continues to rain and stay warm, but the forecast doesn't say that at the moment," a gasoil trader said.

"Some barges have got stuck, but with comfortable stocks it's not an issue yet."

Another trader said current low demand for gasoil and diesel meant the market would be little affected. "It's logistically annoying only," the trader said.

--Victoria Klesty, victoria.klesty@spglobal.com
--Ahila Karan, ahila.karan@spglobal.com
--George Shaw, geroge.shaw@spglobal.com
--Edited by Jonathan Fox, jonathan.fox@spglobal.com