Splash247: Europe’s great rivers run dry

Published by Splash247

Exceptionally low water levels on Europe’s two most important inland waterways are disrupting commercial shipping, restricting port operations and adding fresh pressure to already strained supply chains.

The Danube in Romania fell to its lowest level since 1996 over the weekend after weeks of intense heat and drought, while water levels on Germany’s Rhine have dropped to levels that are forcing barges to sail only partially loaded.

Romanian Waters said the Danube’s flow at Baziaș, where the river enters the country, had fallen to around 1,700 cu m per second, barely a third of the July average of 4,700 cu m per second.

The low water has exposed extensive sandbanks, suspended several cross-river ferry services and left grain barges waiting for sufficient draft. Romania is one of the European Union’s largest grain exporters, making any disruption to barge movements particularly significant during the export season.

Authorities have also restricted irrigation water for farmers in southeastern Romania while managing reservoirs to ensure sufficient cooling water remains available for the country’s Cernavodă nuclear power plant.

Conditions are equally challenging on the Rhine, Europe’s busiest inland freight corridor and the principal artery linking the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp port complex with Germany, France and Switzerland.

The critical Kaub gauge, the shallowest point on the Middle Rhine, has fallen to levels that prevent many barges from sailing fully laden. Operators are reducing cargo volumes to maintain a safe draft, increasing transport costs for petroleum products, coal, chemicals, containers and other industrial cargoes.

Freight rates have reacted quickly. Shipping costs for diesel moving from Rotterdam to southern Germany have reportedly risen by more than 50% over the past week as vessel utilisation has fallen.

The disruption comes at a particularly difficult time for European industry. Lower river levels coincide with continued tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, adding further pressure to energy supply chains and logistics costs. The same heatwave has also forced France to temporarily reduce nuclear power output after river temperatures limited cooling water availability at several reactors.

While rainfall is expected to lift Danube water levels modestly this week, forecasters warn that prolonged periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent across Europe, raising the prospect that low-water disruptions will become a regular feature of inland shipping.

Writing for Splash earlier this month, Alex Byelyavtsev, a master mariner with Maersk, noted that less cargo per barge means more barges are needed, so freight costs rise through low-water surcharges, and that cost reaches the wider economy.

When Rhine shipping was disrupted in late 2018, German chemical and pharmaceutical production fell by around 10% over three months. BASF, whose largest site sits on the Rhine, said the low water that year cost it around €250m, and economists estimated the severe drought of 2022 may have cut up to half a percentage point from Germany’s annual economic growth.