German shippers warn Rhine could be split in two as Kaub water levels hit single digits
Low water at the Kaub gauging station is forecast to drop to single digits this week, potentially halting cargo and cruise traffic and splitting the Rhine into two navigable zones, Germany's inland shipping association warned.
Low water threatens to split the Rhine
The Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB) warned on Monday that water levels at the Kaub gauging station, a critical bottleneck for Rhine navigation located south of Koblenz on one of the shallowest sections of the Middle Rhine, are forecast to drop into single digits for the first time during the current week. The Kaub gauge serves as the reference value for Rhine shipping. The forecast follows a prolonged lack of rainfall, and BDB managing director Jens Schwanen told the Rheinische Post that the development of water levels bodes poorly, noting that the channel in this section is already relatively shallow.
Commercial shipping will no longer be able to transport goods in the region at such low water levels. The same goes for day trips and cruise shipping.
Schwanen said that in principle the Rhine would then no longer be navigable along its entire length and would be split in two. Shipping would continue between the ARA ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp, the northern part of the German Rhine, and the west German canal network up to about Cologne. South of that gap, traffic would persist on tributaries including the Main, Moselle, Neckar, and the Main-Danube Canal.
Government crisis response
Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) convened a crisis conference in Bonn on Thursday with shipping and industry representatives to discuss solutions amid repeated low-water records along the Rhine. Options for shifting cargo to road and rail, coordinated by State Secretary Claudia Stutz from the Federal Transport Ministry, were scheduled for discussion on Monday.
- Transport Minister Bilger holds crisis conference in Bonn with shipping and industry representatives
- First states begin suspending Sunday and holiday truck-driving bans
- BDB warns Kaub water level forecast to hit single digits; road and rail options discussed under Claudia Stutz
- Construction projects on roads, rail and waterways to be reviewed
It is therefore right that options for the increased use of road and rail under the coordination of Claudia Stutz, State Secretary in the Federal Transport Ministry, are already being discussed this Monday.
A further meeting on Wednesday will examine pending construction projects on roads, rail, and waterways. Schwanen said any restriction of infrastructure through postponable construction sites should be avoided at present. He noted that the Waterways and Shipping Office "Westdeutsche Kanäle" had already agreed, at BDB's urgent request, to postpone a seven-week full closure of the Wanne-Eickel lock on the Rhine-Herne Canal planned for the end of August. That alternative route via the canal remains available during the crisis.
States relax trucking restrictions
To ease transport bottlenecks caused by low river levels, four German states relaxed trucking curbs over the weekend. North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, and Lower Saxony provisionally lifted Sunday and holiday truck-driving bans until the end of August. Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland suspended the bans until the end of September. In North Rhine-Westphalia, certain truck transports will also be permitted on Saturdays for the next three weeks, despite holiday-season restrictions that normally apply on Saturdays during the travel season.
Bilger had proposed suspending the Sunday and holiday driving ban at Thursday's conference to allow more goods to be moved by road during the low-water period. The first states implemented the plan on Friday.
