New ships for low water: tankers with no draft

D.he months of drought in the drought summer of 2018 not only caused sandbanks and new small islets to rise from the tides in Europe’s most important waterway, the Rhine, but also had serious consequences for many branches of industry by disrupting the supply chains in inland shipping. For example, the world’s largest chemical company, BASF, posted losses of around 250 million euros that year.

In order to close future gaps in the supply of materials, the Ludwigshafen-based company had already rented special cargo ships from various shipping companies in 2019, which were able to transport at least a reduced amount of cargo when the tide was extremely low. In the meantime, the inland shipping fleet has been increased by three new ships, which have been developed in cooperation with external partners and shipping companies to meet the special requirements of the chemical company. “With these three ships, we can significantly improve the security of supply at our location when the water levels are critically low,” says Ludwigshafen plant manager Uwe Liebelt.

The first ship of the new trio, a gas tanker from the Hamburg shipping company HGK, went into operation this year. The 110 meter long “Gas 94” is 12.5 meters wider than conventional gas tankers and has a draft of around 30 to 40 centimeters. Even if the water level of the Rhine at the critical point near Kaub is only 30 centimeters – which corresponds to a water depth of around 1.20 meters – it can still transport around 200 of the maximum permissible liquefied gas cargo of 1,450 tons. This is made possible by the optimized buoyancy properties of the hull, as the ship’s hull is called in the sailor’s language. The cargo containers and the drive technology are arranged in such a way that they provide more buoyancy.

The second addition to the company’s own low-water fleet will be a combined ship for the transport of specialty chemicals. The 110 meter long and 11.35 meter wide “Canaletto” has eight stainless steel tanks, two of which have a special coating. It can be used for a variety of logistics purposes and should be launched in summer 2022.

The flagship, however, will be another tanker in the future, which, with its transport capacity of around 2500 tons, can carry twice as much as conventional tankers at medium low tide. If the water level at Kaub is as critical as previously described, it can still safely transport 650 tons on the Rhine. Not only the length of 135 meters, the width of 17.50 meters and the lightweight construction are unusual, but also ten stainless steel tanks and three separate loading systems with which the tanker is equipped. The maiden voyage should take place at the end of next year.

BASF wants to counter future low water events with a digital early warning system developed jointly with the Federal Institute for Hydrology. It should allow an advance warning time of up to six weeks so that the corresponding logistics measures can be carried out much earlier than before.