Floating Down The Danube

I have been wanting to float down the Rhine and Moselle Rivers because floating down the Danube was one of the most fun things I've ever done.

The Danube is a major shipping channel in Europe.  The Danube offers near-perfect export access to the Black Sea and global markets.  A farmer posted the above video on Market Talk and got me interested.

Ancient castles and fortresses line the Danube River’s banks. Since Roman Empire days, invading armies have made it their corridor to central and northern European conquest. The azure cast of its waters under sunny skies inspired the lilting notes of one of the world’s best-known waltzes.

But underlying the Danube’s deep cultural and historic significance is a common theme: trade. In the 21st century, as has been true for millennia, the Danube is a commerce superhighway, enabling trade between dozens of European countries and creating access to global markets.

Stretching nearly 1,800 miles, this is Europe’s second-longest river. Factor in connections via inland canals and Germany’s Rhine River and the Danube’s navigable length reaches 2,200 miles of continuous waterway from the Black Sea to the North Sea. Each year, 50 million tons of grains, fertilizers and industrial and manufactured products make their way along the river system, bound for customers in Europe and around the world.

“As CHS expanded its global commodities platform on behalf of our U.S. farmer-owners, we needed to originate grain and, increasingly, market fertilizer in Eastern Europe’s rich agricultural regions,” says Roger Baker, vice president and general manager, CHS Europe. “Gaining presence on the southern Danube was an important piece of the puzzle.”

Black Sea Beckons

CHS launched its Eastern Europe grain origination platform in 2009 through an investment in an Odessa, Ukraine, export terminal and a south Russia-based joint venture, which included interior grain origination and access to a major port in southern Russia. Since then, CHS has opened a Kiev, Ukraine, office, expanded the Odessa terminal, and is now sole owner of the Russia venture based at Krasnodar.

The Ukraine and Russia operations provide access to wheat, corn and other grains from the Black Sea’s eastern and central production regions. In 2011, CHS completed its regional origination base with an acquisition that includes offices in four Danube countries; an inland elevator with 46,000 metric tons of storage at Oroshaza, Hungary; a river terminal at Giurgiu, Romania; and an export facility at the port of Constanta, Romania, considered one of the best on the Black Sea."

The Rhine River Beckons for me.

Ed