Rhine at record low chokes German freight as Bilger lifts Sunday truck ban

Record lows across German rivers

The Rhine waterways and shipping office, WSA Rhein, reported that the gauge at Kaub near Bingen fell to 17 centimetres on Wednesday, the lowest since measurements began in 1880, according to German federal data compiled by ETH Zürich. The previous negative record from the drought year of 2018 has been surpassed. In Cologne, a new low of 67 centimetres was registered on Saturday, below the previous record of 69 centimetres set on 23 October 2018. The crisis extends beyond the Rhine: at 119 of 146 gauges in Saxony, low water conditions prevail (82 percent, up from 60 percent the previous week). The Elbe at Dresden stood at 55 centimetres, almost a metre below the long-term average. The Rhine's flow at Rheinfelden, Switzerland, averaged 418 cubic metres per second in August 2026, against a long-term August mean of 1,185 cubic metres per second.

Freight traffic near paralysis

The Rhine carries 80 million tons of goods per year and stretches nearly 800 miles through six countries from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea. Ships still navigating the Kaub bottleneck can carry only a fraction of their usual loads. Inland shipping accounts for 7 percent of German freight transport while roads dominate at 70 percent, but for bulk raw materials the waterway is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly route. A single inland vessel carries as much cargo as 150 trucks. BASF has already shifted transports from water to rail and truck, and the chemical industry association VCI has warned of production cuts.

It's one of the most important heart chambers of the German economy.

Government emergency response

After a 90-minute summit with industry and logistics representatives in Bonn on Thursday, Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) announced a package of short-term measures. He will negotiate with state governments to suspend the Sunday and holiday truck driving ban for particularly affected goods and to expedite permits for heavy transports shifted to road. DB Cargo pledged to organise additional rail capacity despite extensive construction work in the Rhineland. The Autobahn GmbH has been instructed to reduce avoidable highway construction sites to keep diversion traffic flowing.

We cannot influence the weather, but we could ensure that our economy gets through these difficult weeks better.

Medium-term plans include retrofitting ships for low-water operation. Long-term, Bilger wants to expand waterways and remove bottlenecks on the Middle Rhine, enabled by the new infrastructure future law.

Industry and political reactions

Steffen Bauer, CEO of HGK Group, warned against creating additional bottlenecks on the north-south axis and called for a "future resilience programme" with planning acceleration and financing guarantees beyond the legislative period. Jens Schwanen of Deutsche Binnenschifffahrt described a low-water event that in places falls below the 2018 values. The logistics association BGL was sceptical about suspending the Sunday driving ban, noting that drivers would have to park trucks on other days to comply with driving and rest time regulations. The Left party fears a creeping erosion of the driving ban. Swiss associations HKBB and SVS demanded rapid strategies from the Central Commission for Rhine Navigation to secure the river as a reliable transport axis, and the ZKR referred to a January 2023 expert workshop that had already outlined four options including digital water-level forecasting and specialised low-draft vessels.

Economic fallout

Economist Simon Gerards Iglesias expects a growth dampener similar to 2018, when low water levels reduced economic output by about 0.4 percent. The 2018 drought caused €2.4 billion in economic damage. A Prognos study modelled for Handelsblatt estimates €913 million in production value losses in the Rhine basin, with €214 million in lost value added and 1,900 jobs affected. Mannheim-Ludwigshafen alone accounts for €494 million, of which €331 million is in the chemical industry. The chemistry sector bears the largest burden at €426 million in production value losses. Compounding the crisis, the right-bank rail line on the Middle Rhine is completely closed for months of renovation, work that was scheduled for the second half of the year when low-water risk is highest.