Water levels on the Rhine have fallen to the lowest point since records began in 1880, and forecasters see no quick relief. At Kaub, Germany, the river’s shallowest navigational pinch point, the gauge stands at 14 centimetres, and the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration expects it could drop to nine by Friday.
Barges can still squeeze through at around 10 centimetres of clearance, but capacity has collapsed. Broker Riverlake said the river is effectively impassable at Kaub, with barges on the Upper Rhine unable to return to the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam hub and vessels from ARA unable to push upstream. Diesel, heating oil, coal, grain and cocoa are all exposed.
Lanxess said shipments by ship are severely restricted and it is switching to rail and road where possible. Covestro noted it takes 60 trucks to replace a single barge with 1,500-tonne capacity. Commerzbank senior economist Ralph Solveen estimates critically low water through mid-September could shave 0.35 percentage point off German GDP this quarter.
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Original Article from gCaptain and Bloomberg | Written by Eamon Akil Farhat, Rachel Graham and Sasha Draeger-Mazer
