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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154 Articles
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The Dutch economy is less affected by low water levels than the German economy, according to ING economist Rico Luman. The Netherlands has more alternative routes thanks to its extensive network of waterways, while a large part of the country is also still relatively easy to navigate, he explained.
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