Authorities begin reopening Mosel River to freight vessels after lock incident

Authorities began trials to reopen the Mosel River in west Germany to domestic freight transportation over the weekend, with ships now able to use a damaged lock after an accident last week.

Shipping was stopped on the river, an important transit route for grains and rapeseed between Germany and France, after an accident involving a passenger vessel on Wednesday damaged a lock at Sankt Aldegund, between the cities of Koblenz and Trier, in western Germany.

A similar lock accident on the Mosel in December, which halted shipping, led to futures exchange operator Euronext suspending physical delivery of its rapeseed futures to river ports in eastern France.

The first tests of freight transportation on the river, called the Moselle in France, using the damaged lock involved about 40 vessels able to sail downriver over the weekend, the inland navigation authority WSV said on Monday.

The lock has been examined after each vessel transit and has been holding up well, the authority said.

"Should the positive lock operations continue, it is hoped that ships will be able to start up river sailings from Tuesday."

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by Rachna Uppal and Bernadette Baum)