The river Rhine in Germany has fallen to new lows in a continued heatwave, the country’s inland navigation agency said on Tuesday, with cargo vessel owners often stopping sailings on southern river sections.
Inland navigation agency WSV said the navigable water depth at the chokepoint of Kaub near Koblenz was 15 cm on Tuesday, below the previous lowest recorded level of 25 cm in 2018. The river is about 1 metre deeper than the navigable depth.
“Commercial sailings through Kaub have basically stopped, it is no longer possible to book cargo shipments on the Rhine past Kaub today,” one commodity trader said. “Some vessels south of Kaub face being trapped.”
“There is no actual rule on when sailings at Kaub should stop because of low water, so you could see a couple of empty vessels risking it, but most sailings there have stopped,” he added.
Shallow water after this summer’s heatwave and scarce rainfall means cargo vessels are only able to sail 20 per cent loaded on the river, increasing costs for cargo owners. Loads must be spread among several vessels sailing part-loaded, also increasing costs.
Sailings on northern sections of the river continue, traders said.
River shippers warned on Monday that low water at Kaub threatened to stop commercial shipping this week. Large volumes of freight are being transferred to road transport and some German authorities have relaxed weekend bans on truck driving.
Analysts said record low water on the Rhine risks curbing German economic growth, just as it is showing early signs of recovery.
Germany, like much of Europe, has experienced successive heatwaves with little rainfall this summer, leading to low water levels on waterways like the Rhine, an important shipping route for grains, minerals, coal and refined oil products.
