Oil-product barges start to shortload on falling Rhine levels

Clean oil-product barges on the Rhine have started to load lower volumes to carry product to the Upper Rhine, market sources said.

“[Water levels] are going down, they are lower and lower with no end in sight, there is short-loading if you go to Coblenz or any of these places further down the Rhine,” a European barge trader said.

Shortloadings for barges were now heard in some instances below 50% of the barge capacity at 1,200 mt for a 2,500 mt barge going to Basel, one barge operator said, while loadings going through Gelsenkirchen were at 60% capacity.

This shortloading of barges, combined with demand for barges to take product inland before logistical issues worsen has driven barge freight rates upwards.

The rate to take a clean products barge from Rotterdam to Basel was assessed at a four-month high of $43.65/mt Tuesday.

The rate to take a clean products barge from Rotterdam to Ghent was assessed at $6.80/mt, down 5 cents on the day from the two-month high assessed Monday.

According to the German waterways authority WSV, Rhine water levels at the key chokepoint of Kaub in Germany had fallen to 148 centimeters at 1645 GMT Tuesday and was forecast to fall to 127 cm by Saturday.

At the end of 2018 barges were unable to navigate the shallow Upper Rhine for prolonged periods due to a severe drought, causing shortages of oil products in southwest Germany and Switzerland.

However, a trader said he expected that shortages would not reoccur due to preparations by EBV, the agency responsible for Germany’s emergency oil stocks, and better preparedness by distributors along the Rhine.
Source: Platts