Germany relaxes Sunday truck bans as low river levels cripple inland shipping, splitting Greens and drawing fire from environmentalists
Low river water levels crippling German inland shipping prompted Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger to suspend Sunday and holiday truck driving bans, with four states implementing the relaxation amid a split among Greens and opposition from environmentalists and the Left party.
Low water paralyzes inland shipping
Persistently low water levels on Germany's major rivers are forcing cargo ships to carry only a fraction of their usual loads, threatening supply chains. On Thursday, Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) announced immediate measures after a low-water conference with companies and associations in Bonn, including possible exemptions from the Sunday and holiday truck driving ban, fewer avoidable construction disruptions, and additional rail freight capacity. Medium- and long-term measures include expanding waterways and adapting ships to low-water conditions.
States relax truck bans
On Friday, the Green-led transport ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia temporarily lifted the Sunday and holiday driving ban for trucks. During the summer holidays, trucks there may also drive on Saturdays. NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) said the exception ensures supply chains are maintained and shortages avoided. Rhineland-Palatinate, the Saarland, and Lower Saxony also temporarily suspended the driving ban for certain trucks on Sundays and holidays, aiming to harmonize rules across states and facilitate substitute road transport.
Greens divided, Left party opposed
The Greens' response was split. Climate policy spokesperson Lisa Badum told the Tagesspiegel that the government was doctoring around symptoms and that putting more trucks on the road was wrong, calling instead for intact rivers and a heat-resistant railway.
Pünktlich im Sommer versucht die Bundesregierung, an Symptomen herumzudoktern. Lkw nun noch mehr auf die Straßen zu schicken, ist falsch.
Deputy faction leader Andreas Audretsch found the measures understandable, saying the need to avoid supply shortages showed the economic damage of the climate crisis was already enormous. He accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) of "notorious denial of reality," citing no words on heat deaths, water levels, or supply bottlenecks. The Left party rejected the relaxation outright. Party leader Luigi Pantisano said the government reacted "much too late" and accused the Union of using the crisis as a pretext to weaken the Sunday driving ban. The Left presented a five-point plan calling for sponge landscapes in river catchment areas, a public water register, and stronger safeguards for public water supply.
Industry welcomes, environmentalists condemn
The BDI industry association welcomed the move. Deputy managing director Holger Lösch told the Rheinische Post the government was demonstrating capacity to act in the current extreme situation, saying shifting goods to rail and road could mitigate impacts and stabilize supply chains. He warned, however, that the shift would not fully compensate for missing waterway capacity and called for higher investment in climate-resilient infrastructure, faster planning procedures, and support for low-water-optimized ships.
BUND chairman Olaf Bandt sharply criticized the relaxation, telling the Rheinische Post it was no solution to replace ship transport with hundreds or thousands of truck trips, which would burden people and the climate.
Die Regierung hat nicht verstanden, dass niedrige Flusspegel ein Symptom der Klimakrise sind. Mit der Ausbaggerung von Flussbetten oder mehr Lkw auf den Autobahnen lässt sich das Problem nicht lösen.
Bandt called for intact river landscapes for water retention and said inland shipping must adapt to the rivers, not the other way around. He also demanded that rail infrastructure be strengthened to better absorb inland shipping bottlenecks in the future.
