Low water on the Rhine: Impairments for shipping and industry

The low water situation on the Rhine continues to worsen at the beginning of autumn. In many places, the water levels have recently slipped into slightly negative territory. The mark was most recently -29 centimeters in Worms and Emmerich, -15 centimeters in Oberwinter, -6 centimeters in Düsseldorf and -3 centimeters in Koblenz, according to data from the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration.

The water level at the Kaub bottleneck on the Middle Rhine, which is particularly tricky for inland waterway boaters, has also slipped slightly into negative territory in the past few days. A record low water level of 40 centimeters was measured in Cologne on Monday. A negative level does not mean that there is no water left in the Rhine at all, as the channel is deeper in many places.

The ongoing water shortage is still hitting inland shipping hard. A cargo ship loaded with small vans got stuck in the port near Düsseldorf this week. As Westdeutscher Rundfunk reports, some transporters were unloaded to ensure more depth. The ship is now free again.

Many ships can no longer sail because of the water level; for others, the river is divided into a north and south part. In the short term, shipowners can only hope for continued rain, especially in southern Germany.

Evonik relies on rail, road and long-distance lines

The persistent low water is hitting industry along the Rhine hard. Chemical plants in particular rely on the Rhine to deliver raw materials and transport produced goods; many of them settled here specifically because of the river.

“The transport volumes of the ships must be reduced,” said a spokesman for the chemical company Evonik when asked. "This has an impact on Evonik's production in the Marl chemical park, in Antwerp and in Wesseling, as well as on other companies that supply preliminary products to Evonik." BASF and Lanxess had also reported problems in the past few weeks.

In addition to the chemical industry, the economic sectors that require large volume and heavy goods or large quantities are particularly affected by the low water: steel, fuel, bulk goods or ores are regularly transported by ship, but operators of ferries and excursion ships have also had to accept heavy losses.

Even though almost all federal states have now temporarily relaxed the Sunday driving ban for trucks due to low water, the lack of transport by water can only be compensated for to a very small extent.