Prices are rising, heating oil is becoming scarce: There are concerns about delivery problems in Switzerland. The Rhine in Germany plays a key role for two reasons.
At the start of the heating season, the price of heating oil in Switzerland rose rapidly. Anyone who buys 3,000 liters in the Bern region pays 171 francs (around 183 euros) per 100 liters, the retailer Volenergy told Handelsblatt. For comparison: In the canton of Zurich, the official guide price at the end of June was 117.50 francs (around 126 euros), a year ago it was around 98 francs (around 105 euros).
The price increase has a direct impact on the population, as around one in three residential buildings in Switzerland is heated with heating oil. The main reasons for the price increase are the war in Iran and the consequences for global supply chains and energy markets. However, the fact that supplies are strained is due to the Rhine: water levels that have been historically low for months are affecting the transport of raw materials.
Normally the river is a central supply route. In its management report, the federal government's Economic State Supply (WL) wrote at the end of September: "The Rhine is currently not usable for mineral oil imports into Switzerland." According to the industry association Avenergy, in 2025 more than 22 percent of Swiss crude oil and mineral oil imports came into the country by ship via Basel. But because the Rhine is largely unavailable as a transport route, Volenergy currently charges surcharges of 15 to 18 centimes per liter.
However, this is not due to the water level in Basel. The Kembs, Birsfelden and Augst barrages maintain the water level and ships can still navigate the Rhine near Basel with a draft of around 2.5 meters, the Swiss Rhine ports told Handelsblatt. The bottleneck is in Germany, in the Middle Rhine Valley, where the water level at Kaub determines how much a ship can load.
Since mid-September, this has been below 25 centimeters on most days, the previous lowest value from the crisis year of 2018. From September 25th to October 8th alone, it repeatedly fell below zero. On Thursday it was ten centimeters.
The level does not measure the depth of the water, but rather the water level relative to a fixed zero point. But at a water level of five centimeters, according to the Rhine ports, ships may only be loaded so that they are less than one meter deep in the water. Freighters can therefore carry less than a quarter of their usual load, if at all. This means that freight traffic on the Rhine is “massively restricted”.
“The current situation cannot be compared to any low water event in the past ten years,” emphasize the Rhine ports. In June and July the levels were already lower than in the crisis year of 2018. Shipping will be affected for “significantly longer” than it was back then.
The situation on the German sections of the Rhine does not only determine the supply of Switzerland. Germany is also the most important supplier: According to Avenergy, around two thirds of imported oil products such as heating oil and diesel came from Germany in 2025. Now less gets there.
In August, only 38,800 tons of mineral oil reached the Basel ports, almost 80 percent less than a year earlier. The supply of food and chemicals also fell by more than three quarters in August. According to the state supply, only a few ships with 300 to 400 tons of cargo are still operating.
The situation with kerosene is particularly critical. The supply of aviation fuel “could increase from mid-October,” according to the state supply agency. The compulsory camps there are only sufficient for around 76 days instead of the planned 90 days. The federal government had to release compulsory stocks of gasoline and diesel in September when the only Swiss refinery in Cressier was temporarily shut down due to a defect.
The importers have to switch primarily to the railways. Last year, almost a third of oil imports came to Switzerland by train. A higher volume is hardly possible: the railway is already very busy, writes the state supply company. According to the Rhine ports, there is a lack of capacity on the tracks, wagons and staff. According to Volenergy, not all failures on the river can be replaced. There could be “supply bottlenecks.”
Since the supply situation is also tense in Germany, there is competition for logistics on the market. “Of course we notice that there is a demand for goods everywhere, but the main problem lies in the limited availability of logistics,” says Volenergy. In Germany, Aral confirms restrictions at individual gas stations, and the Federal Association of Independent Gas Stations warns of temporary outages.
The state supply does not expect the supply situation to ease quickly. The forecasts “suggest no rapid improvement,” she writes. For example, when demand for heating oil increases sharply in the fall and winter, “delivery problems could arise” because in many places hardly any additional purchases were made in the summer.
Volenergy delivered 30 percent less heating oil in September than in the previous year, and the tank levels are at their lowest level in five years. Deliveries are still taking place as planned because demand is subdued. However, many customers only order when the tank is almost empty. This could mean longer delivery times at the onset of winter or before Christmas.
