When my wife and I left friends in a beautiful part of southern Germany, they asked me, "Where are you going?" We explain that our destination was on the Rhine near Duisburg. “Oh,” our friends shouted, “go where you shine and smoke!”
Anyone who has visited Duisburg knows what this means. During the day, clouds of smoke from the large chimneys darken the sky. At night, the blast furnaces make the sky red with fire.
But instead of letting that stop us, we decided to explore. The largest inland port in Europe is located in Duisburg. The pillars extend over a distance of 43 kilometers and house 22 pillars. It is an important door. In 1974, 68 million tonnes of goods were processed there. However, the largest port of Hamburg during the same period required only 57 million tonnes.
An ideal place
One of the reasons for the importance of this inland port is its ideal location. The blast furnaces of some of the world's largest iron and steel producers are located in Duisburg. There are large stocks of hard coal in the immediate vicinity. There is a large copper factory and several chemical factories within the city limits. The concentration of industry along this part of the Rhine and its nearby outlet, the Ruhr area, required an efficient port.
In order to further increase its value as a port, Duisburg connects an international waterway and East Germany via canals. With the help of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal, it is indeed possible to prepare for the Black Sea. Ships arrive in Duisburg from France, Spain, England, Scandinavia, Poland, Russia and other countries.
Look around you
On the strength of general information, we decided to take a tour of this spacious inland port. We chose a location on the upper deck of the sighting vessel so that we could observe everything without interference.
Shortly after leaving the beach, we were surprised by the silhouette of the huge industrial complex in this area. Soon a large copper factory was established, processing over a million tons of raw material every year. So we turned to a chemical plant that has been operating for over a century. The pollution was really annoying. Clouds of yellowish-brown fatigue hung in the air. Rust-red dust regularly rained down from the polluted atmosphere and covered the entire area. Although large sums of money have been spent on air filters and other means of reducing pollution, these efforts have proven to be far from sufficient.
We finally reach Schwanentor, the oldest part of the port of Duisburg. There we saw the huge silos of a grain port built in 1840. After turning around and heading to the Rhine, there was much more to see.
We have never passed an oil port with 600 huge tanks. Rotterdam ships docked at the pumping station and waited to unload their supplies of crude oil. There is a dump on the other side. It is the largest hydraulic scrap baler in Europe. With a force of around 360 kilograms per square centimeter, this unit compresses and packs pieces of scrap that are used to make steel. There were many bodies on these mounds of rubble. We ask ourselves, "When will ours end here?"
The air was getting cloudy and we quickly understood why. Our observation boat passed cranes and coal trucks. Interestingly, this atmosphere seems to have a rather negative effect on agitated white gulls in orbit. Not only do you find food in the gray-green water of the harbor, but they also keep the west surprisingly clean, despite the dark vibe.
Old and new tugs
The harbor was enlarged and we were able to see tugs. The tugs were pulling barges behind them, but today they are shooting at them. In this way, a tug can move six large barges linked together. The scene looks like a railway junction. These "motor boats" work day and night with two shifts.
But here and there we have seen older tugs. The vases on the cabin windows, the dirty laundry floating in the attic and the wire mesh holes remind us that family life is still in the port of Duisburg.
We also had the opportunity to board an old pallet truck. This ship now functions as a floating navigation museum. It is 75 meters long and has two black chimneys that rise almost 30 meters up in the sky. Somewhere in the middle of the ship, the large outer wheel arch showed that we were on board an old one. Inside the ship were displayed many historical pieces, including ancient ship models, laws governing river traffic and even a fax of an ancient Roman wooden anchor.
