Rhine water levels fall to new lows, some ship sailings halted
Cargo barges are carrying lighter loads as low water forces cancellations and raises transport costs for industries that depend on the Rhine.
- On Monday, the federal association of German inland shipping warned that low water levels risk halting cargo traffic on a key stretch of the Rhine this week, effectively splitting the waterway into two separate zones.
- BDB managing director Jens Schwanen told the Rheinische Post that water levels at Kaub are forecast to drop into single digits for the first time due to lack of rainfall, following record-breaking heatwaves across Europe this summer.
- Schwanen said, "Commercial shipping will no longer be able to transport goods in the region at such low water levels." A sign on a Rhine ferry in Kaub reads, "Ferry suspended due to low water levels."
- German states including North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland relaxed trucking curbs this weekend to ease transport bottlenecks caused by low water levels on the Rhine.
- Shipping will continue between the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, as well as on tributaries including the Main, Moselle, and Neckar rivers and the Main-Danube Canal, Schwanen noted, maintaining connections outside the affected Middle Rhine section.
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The continued heat makes the levels of the Rhine and Danube sink to historical lows. Freight ships can only transport a fraction of their usual cargo, sometimes the journey is no longer worthwhile. Germany therefore suspends driving bans for trucks, in Austria this is not currently a topic. However, the supposed emergency solution brings new problems – and cannot replace missing ships. The Rhine is considered the most important waterway in Europ…
German steel giant Thyssenkrupp said on Thursday it was monitoring the water level of the Rhine River and was ready to take action if it continued to fall, as it disrupted the delivery of raw materials by ship.
The continuing drought leaves clear traces on the high Rhine. The situation in the area of the island of Werd near Eschenz TG is particularly impressive.
On important waterways, the situation for inland waterway vessels remains critical. In order to maintain supply chains, transport could be shifted - to trucks, but also to trains. And what happens in the long term?
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