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Minimum Crew For European Waterways?


Slidell

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Greetings, long time lurker here. I've learned a lot but have a question.

 

Brevity being the soul of wit, here it is:

 

Situation: An American on a 8 to 10 meter boat on the waterways in Europe, to include canals and rivers. Countries include Germany, France, Austria, etc.

 

Question: Is there a minimum crew required for legal navigation through locks?

 

Background: I saw a posting mentioning a mandatory minimum of two crew for French River locks. I've searched everywhere for a source for this regulation and found nothing. If this is true, could you point me in the right direction for a reference? Note: I can't find the original post to question the poster directly.

 

Thanks all.

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Greetings, long time lurker here. I've learned a lot but have a question.

 

Brevity being the soul of wit, here it is:

 

Situation: An American on a 8 to 10 meter boat on the waterways in Europe, to include canals and rivers. Countries include Germany, France, Austria, etc.

 

Question: Is there a minimum crew required for legal navigation through locks?

 

Background: I saw a posting mentioning a mandatory minimum of two crew for French River locks. I've searched everywhere for a source for this regulation and found nothing. If this is true, could you point me in the right direction for a reference? Note: I can't find the original post to question the poster directly.

 

Thanks all.

 

I'm not sure whether there is a minimum number in regulation, but I doubt it frankly. However, French lockies can sometimes be a bit lively letting the water into the lock so a minimum of two can be useful, as can ropes capable of taking the strain. French lockies sometimes have a habit of letting the water in/out and then wandering off back to their cabin/house/gardening leaving you alone in the lock so that if an emergency occurs (hang up or rope jamming for example) you could be left with no immediate help. We carry knives to slash the ropes if required.

Roger

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On a boat of up to 15m you are allowed to be on your own, which is perfectly alright if you know what you are doing.

 

I used to operate commercial barges on my own and never had a problem, now I only have a 14.75m boat and if there are other people (friends, family) with me, I still very rarely have them to do the ropes, unless they are bargees and know and understand how I want things to be done.

 

Officially when going through Paris, there should be someone on the boat who understands and speaks the language, and is able to operate the obligatry VHF (cnl 10), it's good for many that this is rarely checked.

 

Peter.

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On a boat of up to 15m you are allowed to be on your own, which is perfectly alright if you know what you are doing.

 

So on a boat of over 15m having crew is mandatory? I wonder why we are so much more relaxed about it?

 

It can't just be that their canals are bigger. I've taken my 17m boat on the tidal Thames by myself through central London.

 

I guess it's because their waterways are still in commercial use.

Edited by blackrose
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So on a boat of over 15m having crew is mandatory? I wonder why we are so much more relaxed about it?

 

It can't just be that their canals are bigger. I've taken my 17m boat on the tidal Thames by myself through central London.

 

I guess it's because their waterways are still in commercial use.

 

 

I don't think they are going to bother you if you are on your own on a bigger boat on the canals, and probably not even on the rivers, as long as you don't make a fool of yourself in a lock or tying up.

 

When I do boat or barge deliveries I'm always on my own too, and have got away with it, but officially you should have a 2nd person on board.

 

In Holland they still allow you to operate a commercial barge of upto 55m on your own, as long as the barge has a 360° bowthruster a second mastlight and a tachograph (like an HGV) and you have to keep a book with your working times.

 

Statisticly they haven't found that barges with only 1 person on board are more involved in accidents.

 

Peter.

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Situation: An American on a 8 to 10 meter boat on the waterways in Europe, to include canals and rivers. Countries include Germany, France, Austria, etc.

 

Question: Is there a minimum crew required for legal navigation through locks?

 

 

The CEVNI rules govern boating on the continent (you need to know these in order to get the essential helmsman’s licence, but also for your own safety and the peace of mind of commercial vessels you will encounter - they don't actually enjoy having some plaisance darting out under their bow because it did not understand the signal they gave). Article 1.08 says all vessels shall have sufficient crew for safe navigation. It is then up to individual countries as to how they interpret this.

A barge-style vessel with its bollards and other gear in the right postion for lock work can easily be worked one-handed by a competent person on smaller canals. Larger locks, especially if you are in there with commercials, are not so easy, as the commercials generally put one line out from the fore end and keep in head gear against that. That makes it very difficult for other craft unless they operate the same way, and that does require a crew person at the fore end. It also requires a boat you can get from one end to the other on, and cruisers or narrow boats can be very difficult to control in these circumstances. Several times I've seen a cruiser being swung round to face the opposite direction as they didn't get a line on quickly enough.

Without checking my references I am fairly sure that the French regs do say there should be at least 2 persons on board on rivers (probably in the règlement particulier for each waterway rather than the règlement général). You don’t get many inspections in France, and as long as the boat appears to be operating in a safe manner nobody is likely to bother you. Belgium does carry out frequent checks on boats now, and also their waterways tend to be larger. On our trip to the shipyard on the Sambre this year we met hardly any of the 38m (Freycinet) working traffic now, and the norm was 80-120m. Holland is fsirly strict, and Germany extremely so - hardly anyone manages to cruise there without falling foul of some regulation at some time and getting fined. Austria is just Germany's little brother and operates much the same. Also your itinary suggests you are going on the Rhine-Main-Donau Kanal, again somewhere you need to know what you are doing.

Edited by Tam & Di
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The CEVNI rules govern boating on the continent (you need to know these in order to get the essential helmsman’s licence, but also for your own safety and the peace of mind of commercial vessels you will encounter - they don't actually enjoy having some plaisance darting out under their bow because it did not understand the signal they gave). Article 1.08 says all vessels shall have sufficient crew for safe navigation. It is then up to individual countries as to how they interpret this.

A barge-style vessel with its bollards and other gear in the right postion for lock work can easily be worked one-handed by a competent person on smaller canals. Larger locks, especially if you are in there with commercials, are not so easy, as the commercials generally put one line out from the fore end and keep in head gear against that. That makes it very difficult for other craft unless they operate the same way, and that does require a crew person at the fore end. It also requires a boat you can get from one end to the other on, and cruisers or narrow boats can be very difficult to control in these circumstances. Several times I've seen a cruiser being swung round to face the opposite direction as they didn't get a line on quickly enough.

Without checking my references I am fairly sure that the French regs do say there should be at least 2 persons on board on rivers (probably in the règlement particulier for each waterway rather than the règlement général). You don’t get many inspections in France, and as long as the boat appears to be operating in a safe manner nobody is likely to bother you. Belgium does carry out frequent checks on boats now, and also their waterways tend to be larger. On our trip to the shipyard on the Sambre this year we met hardly any of the 38m (Freycinet) working traffic now, and the norm was 80-120m. Holland is fsirly strict, and Germany extremely so - hardly anyone manages to cruise there without falling foul of some regulation at some time and getting fined. Austria is just Germany's little brother and operates much the same. Also your itinary suggests you are going on the Rhine-Main-Donau Kanal, again somewhere you need to know what you are doing.

 

 

As I wrote before, I have been operating barges on my own for many years, and never used a front line, as I always wanted to be somewhere where I could still be in control of the boat, and just used the bollards right next to my wheelhouse doors, and keeping in gear too, like all the others, although this is officially forbidden, but everybody does it.

Only in the canal-locks where my Freycinet barge just fitted in I would go to the frontdeck while the barge was entering the lock to stop-off with a spring a couple of centimetres before hitting the doors, and put another rope forward to stop the barge from moving back, and stayed on the front-deck to adjust the ropes while the level changes.

 

Now that I'm having a much smaller boat, I see that handling a barge is much easier, as you are not washed away as quick by the propellor wash of the big barges, luckely I've got plenty of power and if needs be 2 engines + an hydraulic BT to help me, but if I see that a big barge is creating really too much of a whirlpool I call the barge on the VHF, if he doesn't reply, I call the lockkeeper to pass the message that the barge has to slowdown-or better stop his prop while I enter and tie-up, as the lockkeeper is responsible for the safe operation of his lock he will do this ( but not if you don't ask).

 

Peter.

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The CEVNI rules govern boating on the continent (you need to know these in order to get the essential helmsman’s licence, but also for your own safety and the peace of mind of commercial vessels you will encounter - they don't actually enjoy having some plaisance darting out under their bow because it did not ...

 

Yes, I think it was your post in another thread that got me thinking. For the record, I've read the CEVNI as well as local river reg's that I could find and could locate nothing to support the minimum crew statement. I've exhausted every search engine I can think of on every forum I'm aware of as well as the general search engines.

 

It's not my intent to challenge anyone, I'm just concerned that if I've missed something this large, with all of the research that I've done, what else might I be unaware of. So, if you can find a reference to this minimum crew requirement, for any country, please post a link.

 

Thanks again everyone.

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As I wrote before, I have been operating barges on my own for many years, and never used a front line, as I always wanted to be somewhere where I could still be in control of the boat, and just used the bollards right next to my wheelhouse doors, and keeping in gear too, like all the others, although this is officially forbidden, but everybody does it.

 

I agree entirely - that's exactly what I do on the rare occasions I am boating one handed. I agree too about calling up a marinier if his wash is making life too difficult, though this virtually never happens to us, exactly because we are two handed. Di has been working commercial craft since the 70s alongside me and can get a line onto a bollard with her eyes shut. Unfortunately of course many modern craft, even so-called replica barges, have bollards in quite the wrong place or of quite the wrong pattern to work safely one-handed on larger waterways and in company with commercial vessels.

 

To answer the OP I am presently in the UK. I have the CEVNI code in its latest revision here as I'm revising the RYA book, and I have the French and Belgian Règlement Général. Each of those only says "crew sufficient in number and sufficiently skilled to ensure the safety of those on board and safe navigation". All my règlements particuliers for each individual waterway are on the boat, and they are probably where is specifies in greater detail what is regarded as "sufficient".

Edited by Tam & Di
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...All my règlements particuliers for each individual waterway are on the boat, and they are probably where is specifies in greater detail what is regarded as "sufficient".

 

That was a great help. I was able to download the règlements particuliers for the Seine, Yonne, Marne & Oise and was pleased to find no reference to minimum crew. I thank you all for your time and wish you happy sailing!

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That was a great help. I was able to download the règlements particuliers for the Seine, Yonne, Marne & Oise and was pleased to find no reference to minimum crew. I thank you all for your time and wish you happy sailing!

 

Still not the full story, but as I wrote earlier the basic CEVNI rules (1.08) plus those of France and Belgium all say there should be sufficient competent crew. Competence can obviously be justified by certification but there is no guide to “sufficient”. The Dutch Binnenvaart Politiereglement (1.09) simply say the helmsman must have a licence, but no mention of crew. They all accept an ICC (Inland), and this is now available to US citizens.

 

Vessels over 20m must now hold a community certificate (effectively conforming to the Technical Requirements for Inland Waterway Vessels - TRIWV - or Rhine regulations) which says (21.03) that pleasure craft must have a certificated skipper and a crew person. This is echoed in the Code Fluvial (for France) published by Vagnon which says pleasure craft over 15m must have a competent matelot in addition to the helmsman when on rivers and lakes.

 

So the national rules say “sufficient” and the TRIWV only applies to craft over 20m. I don’t have that sort of information on Germany.

 

France also has a list of equipment that must be on board a small craft, and wearing of life jackets is mandatory. I’ve only seen that applied on the lower end of the Saône and on the Rhône though, and they apply it fairly rigidly to deck crew of commercials as well. You’ve probably also seen that ATIS enabled VHF is mandatory - two sets for anything over 7m in Belgium.

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Again, thanks.

 

 

I deliberately kept my topic narrowly focused to eliminate the whole raft of possible circumstances. I understand that one competent and capable and properly licensed and equipped crew member seems to be all that is required in the narrowly defined situation that I layed out. Specifically, 8-10 meter pleasure craft on the rivers and canals of Europe with proper licensing, equipment, properly maintained and operated according to all other regulations.

 

but if anyone has any specific references that contradict this, please set me straight.

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Again, thanks.

 

 

I deliberately kept my topic narrowly focused to eliminate the whole raft of possible circumstances. I understand that one competent and capable and properly licensed and equipped crew member seems to be all that is required in the narrowly defined situation that I layed out. Specifically, 8-10 meter pleasure craft on the rivers and canals of Europe with proper licensing, equipment, properly maintained and operated according to all other regulations.

 

but if anyone has any specific references that contradict this, please set me straight.

I have been out with German friends on their 1200 ton boat, on the Rhine-Main-Donau and down the Danube, which was worked with a crew of two - husband and wife. On the Danube we needed a pilot as my friend had not taken his boat down there a sufficient number of times over the previous few years to comply with regulations. The boat had no bow thruster, depth finder, etc, as my friend said that if you can't navigate without them, you will be in trouble when they fail. As a German boatman, he had been through the German boat school system as a young man, so knew what he was doing. That said, a 240 feet by 30 feet 1200 ton boat handles very much like a 72 foot by 7 foot narrowboat.

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I have been out with German friends on their 1200 ton boat, on the Rhine-Main-Donau and down the Danube, which was worked with a crew of two - husband and wife. On the Danube we needed a pilot as my friend had not taken his boat down there a sufficient number of times over the previous few years to comply with regulations. The boat had no bow thruster, depth finder, etc, as my friend said that if you can't navigate without them, you will be in trouble when they fail. As a German boatman, he had been through the German boat school system as a young man, so knew what he was doing. That said, a 240 feet by 30 feet 1200 ton boat handles very much like a 72 foot by 7 foot narrowboat.

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It certainly makes sense that a commercial vessel of that size would have additional requirements placed on it. Impressive that they are handled by two people. I'm going to settle for something more modest!

 

Pete

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I've never seen a regulation requiring a specific number of crew; I suspect there might be something somewhere that relates to larger craft (say over 20m). There are plenty of single-handers on the canals. Handling a boat safely and comfortably in a lock boils down to common sense, basic seamanship, preparation and a certain amount of learning from experience. Bigger locks (e.g on the Rhone) can be a lot easier than smaller ones and, of course, nearly every lock has some difference or another - this just makes life interesting and enjoyable! :)

 

__ french-waterways.com __

Edited by Grehan
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