Rhine water falls again in Germany, river ships cut loads

Water levels on the river Rhine in Germany have fallen again after this week’s heatwave and cargo vessels are sailing with significantly reduced loads, navigation authorities said on Wednesday.

Shallow water is hampering shipping on the entire river in Germany south of Duisburg and Cologne.

“Shipping is continuing but with sometimes strongly reduced loads,” said Florian Krekel, spokesman for German inland waterways navigation agency WSA, emphasising that this is especially true for the chokepoint of Kaub near Koblenz.

“Shipping during low water is not officially stopped, the sector regulates itself,” he said. “Currently vessels can still sail but with a significant reduction in loads. It depends on the vessel type if they can load 50% or only 30% of their cargo.”

Commodity traders said that water levels at Kaub are so low that vessel owners have freedom under their contracts to cancel shipments if they believe their vessels cannot operate safely.

River ships continue to sail but at Kaub are often 70% empty, one trader said.

Shallow water means vessel operators impose surcharges on freight rates, increasing costs for cargo owners.

The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities including grains, minerals, coal and oil products such as heating oil.

German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in 2018 after a drought and heatwave led to unusually low water levels on the Rhine.

German industry association BDI said it was concerned the low water could cause a longer-term reduction in river shipping capacity if disruption means vessel owners cannot operate profitably.

“The situation can escalate, even though supply to industry via waterways is still secure,” it said. “For the first time this summer, some water levels on the Rhine have fallen below the extreme weather year of 2018.”

The association called on Germany’s government to provide financial support to modernise the country’s inland waterways fleet with new ships more able to operate in shallow waters.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Michael Hogan Editing by Louise Heavens and David Goodman )