Geography

The Moselle has its source roughly 25 kilometres (15 miles) to the southwest of Colmar on the main ridge of the Vosges at Col de Bussang. It flows into the Rhine at Koblenz. Its overall fall of 676 metres (2217 feet) is spread over a total length of 520 kilometres (323 miles).

Its drainage basin covers an area of over 28,286 square kilometres (10,921 square miles). The Moselle, along with its tributaries the Meurthe, Seille, Madon, Orne, Sauer and Saar, belongs to the Rhine basin.

At the border triangle where France, Luxembourg and Germany meet, the Moselle becomes a border river. For a stretch of 36 kilometres (22 miles), the Moselle is an area of joint sovereignty (condominium), administered jointly by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Federal Republic of Germany.

 

You will find more information about the waterway structure of the Moselle on the websites of the national administrations:

- German Moselle and condominium

- French Moselle (downloads pdf-file)

 You will also find maps on OpenSeaMap (without guarantee for correctness of the information).

News

01.02.2024

New recommendation of the European Commission on means to address the impact of automation and digitalisation on the transport workforce

On 29 November 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted a recommendation on means to address the impact of automation and digitalisation on the transport workforce which is ad [more]

26.10.2022

Survey of De Vlaamse Waterweg nv regarding remote operation

The Belgian waterway operator De Vlaamse Waterweg nv has launched a short survey among the users of the Belgian inland waterway network regarding the planned remote ope [more]

24.10.2022

New EuRIS portal online

As of now, all inland waterway users can use a new European information portal called EuRIS to plan their voyage.

On a single platform EuRIS combines all waterway and [more]

09.07.2020

Film about the Moselle now available in English

In 2019, the Luxembourg Ministry of Mobility and Public Works published a film (in German) which presents the inland waterway Moselle and its infrastructure in the join [more]