Bad weather-strikes-bad weather. This is the sequence of events that German rail freight has dealt with in the past few weeks. Following the industrial action of North Sea German port workers during the past seven days, bad weather conditions in the German north are set to delay the handling of trains even more.
Here’s the deal with German rail freight: The floods in Bavaria in early June created multiple impairments in the local railway network, spilling over to cross-border links with neighbouring countries and domestic German traffic between the north and south.
In mid-June, port workers at major ports were also on strike for a few days following the dispute between workers’ unions and the Central Association of German Seaport Operators (ZDS) on collective wage bargaining negotiations. Companies like METRANS warned their customers to prepare for disruptions resulting from industrial action, as the sector was still widely dealing with the backlog caused by problems during the past few weeks.
Luck does not seem to be on the operator’s side in this sense, considering that instead of stabilising, the situation became even worse. This is due to the stormy weather that hit northern Germany this week, with many lines in Saxony, for instance, being closed. METRANS underlined that port terminals currently face 10-hour-long delays in handling trains, with no clear timeframe for getting back on track.