ZANDER2

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Lock to be operated in emergency mode to let trapped ships pass

After the incident on Jan 20 with the 'Zander II', when an excavator on the workboat rammed and moved a bridge above the lock chamber, which damaged electrical and control cables in the bridge, the Himmelstadt lock has been closed, Now the Main lock was to be opened again in an emergency mode on Jan 22. Initially, this was planned for 12 p.m., but now the opening has been delayed by two hours to 2 p.m. The lock will then have to be operated semi-automatically in a kind of emergency mode. Ten cargo ships are currently waiting to be able to pass through the lock to continue their journey towards Schweinfurt or Aschaffenburg. The Himmelstadt lock operation is now to run temporarily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Three people will open and close the four swing gates of the Main lock with emergency generators and in manual operation. This is normally controlled by the Harrbach control center, which is a good ten kilometers away. The 'Zander II' remained stationarys inside the lock chamber in pos. 49° 55' N 009° 48' E as of Jan 22. On the evening of Jan 20, a mobile crane had moved the bridge back. However, the bridge is still not accessible and had to be further secured on Jan 21. The cables were checked all day. A temporary bridge for the cables is also being built. This means that the bridge can also be checked. It is still completely uncertain how badly it has been damaged, whether segments will have to be replaced or whether the entire steel, non-public bridge on the lock's premises will have to be replaced. It was assumed that the damage would be in the six-figure range. Report with video: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/nach-schiffshavarie-mainschleuse-oeffnet-im-notbetrieb,UaaFVL7

Excavator allided with jetty and caught fire - power station and 1000 households lost electricity

On the Main at the lock in Himmelstadt, the 'Zander II' of the Main Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA), while shifting a steel jetty by 1.40 meters on the afternoon of Jan 20, 2025, got stuck with the boom of an excavator bucket that was mounted on the ship. The jetty was hanging at an angle on the boom of the work boat and threatened to tip over. Power and high-voltage cables as well as control technology run through the jetty. These were damaged and a short circuit occurred, and the excavator could fire. The lock itself, the weir or the power station and an estimated 1,000 households in Karlstadt, Himmelstadt and Zellingen lost electricity for about an hour. A large number of rescue workers quickly arrived on site. These included fire departments from Himmelstadt and surrounding communities such as Retzbach, Retzstadt and Zellingen. The first thing that was achieved was to get the power plant running again. The water from the Main could flow through the weir again. Ship traffic on the river in the Himmelstadt area was halted until the evening. It was initially unclear how long the closure would last. A 130-ton mobile crane was called to secure the weir bridge until the late evening and returned it to its old position. The work boat has then been able to leave the lock chamber. However, the lock has to remain closed until Jan 21 at noon. The cables have een badly damaged and needed to be checked carefully. In order to be able to carry out this work, it was decided to close the lock chamber. The extent of the damage was not yet known. Reports with photos and video: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/havarie-auf-dem-main-stromausfaelle-und-gesperrte-schifffahrt,UaURboO https://www.main-echo.de/ressorts/blaulicht/unfall-in-der-schleuse-himmelstadt-mit-mehrfach-folgen-art-8434778 https://www.infranken.de/lk/main-spessart/blaulicht/himmelstadt-brennender-bagger-auf-schiff-zerstoert-fussgaengerbruecke-grosseinsatz-am-main-stromausfall-drei-gemeinden-art-6012343