Bonn (Platts)--6Feb2012/827 am EST/1327 GMT

Freezing temperatures in Germany, Europe's biggest fuel market, have started disrupt barge traffic headed to refineries in Hamburg and Lingen, sources said Monday.

Nynas and Tamoil run 110,000 b/d and 78,000 b/d refineries in Hamburg, respectively.

"We are no longer sailing to these destinations," one shipping agent said.

The Dortmund-Ems canal, which provides access to Lingen, in the Northwest of the country, was also affected, a shipping agent said.

BP operates in 93,000 b/d refinery in Lingen.

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"The waterway on the Dortmund-Ems canal is almost closed," he said.

Ice from Europe's cold wave has also halted shipping over a 295 kilometer (183 mile) stretch of Germany's Elbe River from Geesthacht south of Hamburg to near Dresden close to the German border with the Czech Republic, Germany's official waterway service Elwis reported.

Other navigable waterways and canal systems in Germany's central and eastern regions from north to south have also been hit by hindrances or halts in shipping from ice, Elwis reported.

"Customers are going to have to cover immediate needs by rail or road transport," said a Hamburg shipping agent. "But when shipping is able to resume, we'll likely see some impact on freight rates."

Spot patches of near-shore ice have also formed at many points on the Rhine. But shipping continues as normal through the river's main channels.

Ice has halted shipping on the Rhine's Neckar River tributary in southern Germany. "But there's not much barge traffic on the Neckar," an agent said.

Weather forecasts see the cold wave persisting in Germany this week.

--Guilherme Kfouri, guilherme_kfouri@platts.com

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