River Berlin, Europe Brief News – Water levels on the Rhine River could reach a critically low point in the coming days, German officials said.
The phenomenon makes it increasingly difficult to transport goods — including coal and gasoline.
Weeks of dry weather have turned several of Europe’s major waterways into trickles, posing a headache for German factories and power plants that rely on deliveries by ship and making an economic slowdown ever more likely.
Transporting goods by inland waterways is more important in Germany than in many other Western European countries, according to Capital Economics.
“This is particularly the case for the Rhine, whose nautical bottleneck at Kaub has very low water levels but which remains navigable for ships with small drafts,” said Tim Alexandrin, a spokesman for Germany’s Transport Ministry.
Authorities predict that water levels at Kaub will dip below the mark of 40 centimetres early Friday and keep falling over the weekend.
While this is still higher than the record low of 27 centimetres seen in October 2018, many large ships could struggle to safely pass the river at that spot, located roughly mid-way along the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz.
“The situation is quite dramatic, but not as dramatic yet as in 2018,” said Christian Lorenz, a spokesman for the German logistics company HGK.