It’s been running again since Monday, the hard coal-fired power plant in Mehrum. The plant in Peine, Lower Saxony, built in 1979, is intended to help compensate for the gas bottlenecks in the power supply. The only problem: You need coal for that. Lots of coal. The power plant swallows 5,000 tons every day, they come with ships via the Mittelland Canal. With 1200 tons of cargo per ship, that makes four ships a day, at least. It’s a “challenge,” says a spokesman for the power plant. “And it starts with the seagoing ship.” A lot of things are just very scarce at the moment.
And that’s putting it politely. The war in Ukraine with all its consequences is increasingly becoming a logistical problem in Germany. The Federal Republic, actually a hub in the heart of Europe, was already struggling with massive bottlenecks on rail and waterways. And now suddenly a lot more goods are supposed to roll over the rails and go on ships.
Take coal, for example: actually a phased-out model, even power plants that are in reserve or due to be shut down should now start up again. “We are having difficulties getting sufficient train capacity for our Saarland power plants,” reports the Essen-based power plant group Steag. Because these systems cannot be supplied via waterways, they are dependent on freight trains. And they are not only at Steag. With the “reactivation of further coal-fired power plants”, Deutsche Bahn has just received “various new transport requests,” says a railway spokeswoman.
Wagons and locomotives are scarce, and there is also a shortage of staff – not least because of Corona
But just loading large amounts of coal onto freight trains? It is not that easy. The railway network is stretched to the breaking point. Dilapidated rail systems and a record number of construction sites slow down rail traffic, main traffic axes are hopelessly overloaded. “The bottlenecks are not only about network capacities, but also about wagons, locomotives and personnel, who are currently in short supply due to Corona,” says Steffen Kerth, Head of Railway Policy and Infrastructure at the Association of German Transport Companies.
Especially since the railway is also supposed to transport aid and military goods to Ukraine and wheat from Ukraine. Energy companies make it clear what transport volumes are involved. According to the power plant operator Steag, “a few hundred additional freight trains” would be needed “to bring large quantities of hard coal to the power plant sites within a relatively short period of time. But Deutsche Bahn makes it clear that it is reaching its limits. “We don’t have the goods wagons that we and our competitors need in store at the moment,” says CEO Richard Lutz.
An enormous problem is looming, which has long been causing crisis groups to come together. “There are discussions in the industry about how power plants and refineries or warehouses can be supplied in an emergency,” says association manager Kerth. The problem: “We still don’t know where and when which quantities will be needed and over which routes they have to be transported. We need clarity as soon as possible about the specific quantities and relations,” he says. The mineral oil industry and the power plant operators have not yet made a clear statement. Administration and ministries must now clarify what additional needs arise.
The federal government has at least taken precautions for such cases at the legal level. In order to avoid an immediate threat to or disruption of the energy supply, he can also issue regulations on freight transport by rail – and thus ensure that coal is transported as a priority. Does that help? “In the end, the question is how it looks in the engine room,” says Jürgen Osterhage, Managing Director of the Association of Coal Importers. “And it’s just very tight there.”
The problem does not even lie with the rails alone. In recent years, coal imports to Germany have gradually declined – and with it the capacities for transport, including in the seaports. “And now the era is suddenly changing,” says Osterhage. “You can’t just press the button and start everything up again.”
The important coal ports – above all Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp – are currently working under high pressure. Here, too, the staff is scarce. And then the EU’s coal embargo casts its shadow: From next Wednesday it will ban the import of Russian coal. Until then, however, will be landed, what the stuff holds. The heaps are growing.
In the past, barges would have picked up the coal there and transported it up the Rhine towards Germany. For decades, coal was the “bread-and-butter business” for the industry, says Jens Schwanen from the Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB). But now the capacities are no longer sufficient. “Freight shipping is currently in full employment.” Even more: “There is no reserve or emergency fleet that could be activated,” says Schwanen. In any case, there is also a lack of staff to increase capacity.
Simply loading more on the ships that are currently sailing does not work either. This fails because of the uncompromising physics: “The water levels on numerous rivers currently do not allow the ships to be completely unloaded,” says Schwanen. Because the more cargo, the more draft the ship logically has. So if somewhere on the transport route from the port to the power plant there is a point with “low water”, the ship must be loaded in such a way that it does not run aground there either. A look at the water levels on the waterways: low water warnings, for example for the Main between Mainz and Bamberg, for the Elbe behind Hamburg and for the Oder between Eisenhüttenstadt and Schwedt. When in doubt, anyone who sails along here has to load less than the ship could actually carry.
Barges are missing for the coal – because they get grain from the Ukraine
This further exacerbates the problem. In addition, the crisis not only requires the transport of more coal. Industry sources say that many barges made their way down the Danube to load Ukrainian grain. In Germany they are currently missing. According to coal importers, this problem could ease once more grain is transported across the Black Sea.
The railway lines could become even more crowded if the Druzhba pipeline dried up. So far, it has been supplying eastern Germany with Russian oil, but Germany intends to cut the supply in the new year. Then the refineries in East Germany could also be supplied with crude oil in a different way, but not to the same extent as before. More diesel and gasoline would have to be transported east from West German refineries – in tank cars on railroad tracks. With consequences for the entire economy. If raw materials have priority, companies will probably have to wait longer for other primary products, despite tightly scheduled supply chains.
The power plant operators are now pushing for legal relief. For example, the “Replacement Power Plant Availability Act” requires operators to have enough coal in stock to fire the power plants for 30 days. That exacerbates the logistical difficulties, according to Steag. After all, almost all operators would have to build up this reserve at the same time.
The transport industry is already making it clear that no help can be expected from abroad. “There may still be reserves,” says union officer Kerth. But the quantities can by no means be expanded at will, “especially since the situation is similar in many parts of Europe”.