A heat wave and prolonged drought have driven the Rhine, a vital European waterway, to a record low. Commercial vessels can no longer book passage south of Kaub, threatening severe disruptions to supply chains and the German economy.
Due to an unprecedented low water level caused by the heat wave, cargo shipping on the Rhine south of Koblenz has practically come to a standstill, traders and the German inland navigation agency WSV confirmed on Tuesday. The navigable depth at the critical point near Kaub has dropped to just 15 centimeters, the lowest level since measurements began.
At this location, considered a bottleneck for river traffic, the Rhine is now only 1.15 meters deep at the deepest part of the shipping channel. "Commercial navigation through Kaub has practically ceased, and it is no longer possible to book cargo transport on the Rhine south of Kaub today," a commodity trader told Reuters, adding that vessels south of that point could remain stranded.
Barge operators had already announced on Monday that commercial navigation could be suspended by the end of the week. Due to the extremely low water levels, cargo ships are currently carrying only about 20 percent of their usual load. This has led to a dramatic surge in transport costs; barge freight rates on the route from Rotterdam to Karlsruhe have jumped from approximately 45 euros per ton at the end of June to the current 150 to 160 euros.
DW News reports that vessels still sailing are forced to reduce their cargo by about 80 percent, and one in ten tons of freight in Germany is normally transported via rivers like the Rhine. The supply of goods such as ores, oil, chemical products, and coal is now seriously threatened.
The reduced cargo capacity of ships is putting a severe strain on supply chains and limiting production, emphasized Wolfgang Grosse Entrup, head of the chemical industry association VCI. Experts at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimate that low river levels in the third quarter could cost the German economy between one and two billion euros in lost activity, reducing gross domestic product by 0.1 to 0.2 percent.
The Rhine is Europe's most important commercial inland waterway, and German industry alone transports around 200 million tons of goods annually, including fuel, raw materials, grains, minerals, and petroleum products. Although navigation on the northern part of the Rhine has continued for now, some cargo is already being shifted to roads. In certain federal states, the ban on truck transport on Sundays and public holidays has been temporarily lifted to alleviate supply bottlenecks.
The measuring station near Kaub had already recorded a record low of 19 centimeters last week. DW News reports that the current measurement is 16 centimeters, while WSV cites 15 centimeters, a discrepancy possible due to different reading times or rounding. The water level is expected to drop to single digits in the coming days.
Germany, like much of Europe, is facing a series of heat waves and a long period without significant rainfall this summer, which scientists partly attribute to human-induced climate change. The low water level is also promoting algae growth, further threatening water quality and the river ecosystem.
