THE popular Danube River is currently closed
to river traffic in several European countries
due to the region’s increasingly cold weather.
The Danube is Europe’s busiest waterway,
running through Germany, Austria, Slovakia,
Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania
and the Ukraine, and it is vital for transport,
power, irrigation, industry, fishing, and of
course for scenic river cruising.
Currently parts of the river are partially
blocked, or wholly cut off, by large slabs of ice,
which in some areas are up to one metre thick,
and are the result of Europe’s current freeze.
These ice slabs are reportedly covering more
than 170kms of the river including 60-70% of
Hungary’s Danube and 50-90% of the Bulgarian
Danube, whilst the river is frozen at Calarasi
and Harsova in Romania and in between
Moldova Veche and Turnu Severin, and is
completely frozen over in Austria.
As a result of the big freeze officials in Croatia,
Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Austria have
made the monumental decision to stop
shipping along their respective parts of the river.
The bans have brought traffic along the river
to a virtual standstill, with ships already sailing
ordered to head for the closest harbour.
In a bid to combat the ice, 13 Hungarian
icebreakers set to work over the weekend,
including the Hungarian navy’s largest
icebreaker, the Szechenyi.
Meanwhile the good news for those that
rely on the Danube, is that weather
forecasters have predicted that the cold snap
will only last until the middle of the month.
