Low Water Levels Threaten to Divide Rhine River, Inland Shipping Warns

The Rhine River is facing a critical low-water situation that could soon render it impassable, effectively dividing the vital European waterway. The German Federal Association for Inland Navigation (BDB) warns that the water level at the crucial Kaub measurement point, located between Koblenz and Mainz, is projected to fall to a single-digit value for the first time this week due to persistent drought and lack of rainfall. This drastic reduction in water depth will make the Rhine "no longer continuously navigable and thus divided," according to BDB Managing Director Jens Schwanen. The Kaub gauge is a key reference point for Rhine shipping, and its shallow channel makes it particularly vulnerable to low water levels. Schwanen stated that commercial shipping will be unable to transport goods in this region at such low water levels, impacting not only freight but also excursion and cruise ships. The consequence would be two separate Rhine regions: one connecting the North Sea ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp to the Cologne region via the Rhine and the West German canal system, and another with shipping traffic on tributaries like the Neckar, Mosel, Main, and the Main-Danube Canal further south. The Main-Danube Canal is an internationally significant link to Southeast Europe and the Black Sea. The BDB welcomes planned crisis meetings with the Federal Ministry of Transport to discuss contingency plans. Discussions are expected to focus on increasing the use of road and rail transport. In response to the ongoing low water levels, several German states have already eased restrictions on Sunday and holiday driving for certain trucks. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony, and Saarland, an exception allows truck transport of goods that cannot be shipped or can only be transported with difficulty due to the low water levels, rerouting them via road.

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Because of the lack of precipitation, a single-digit value is forecast for the first time this week at the important measurement point Kaub for shipping and the economy.