When was the last time it rained for days in Germany? The Rhine is also thirsting for the answer to this question. The river has been low for a few days. At the shallowest point of the Rhine near Kaub (Rhineland Palatinate), the level was 33 centimeters on Tuesday – just three centimeters above the critical 30 mark.
This is a problem for inland freighters. At such low levels, which should not be confused with the depth of the water, they can only transport a few goods – or none at all. Even water levels of less than 40 centimeters are uneconomical for inland shipping in Kaub, since the ships cannot be fully loaded.
At levels of 30 to 35 centimetres, freight traffic via inland waterways is then almost impossible. Ships are already unable to pass through the Upper Rhine and the southern Rhine in places because of their draft, explains Steffen Bauer, head of Germany’s largest inland waterway operator HGK, to the “Handelsblatt”.
This has consequences for the supply of oil and petrol in particular. “This can lead to bottlenecks in the supply of petrol stations in southern Germany,” says Bauer. This is also confirmed by the En2x industry association. Although mineral oil products are available in sufficient quantities. “But we are confronted with major challenges in transporting petrol, diesel or heating oil to the destinations at the right time and in sufficient quantities,” said a spokesman.
To make matters worse, many companies are currently switching to heating oil due to the impending gas shortage. This increases the demand for oil products, which require more delivery capacity. As a result, fewer inland freighters would be available for the transport of petrol and diesel.
The impending gas shortage meanwhile has another consequence. Due to the ramp-up of stone and coal-fired power plants, more coal will be required in the future. HGK boss Bauer speaks in the course of 40 million tons, which are processed via inland shipping. That also takes up capacity.
The Baden-Württemberg energy supplier EnBW explained in an interview with “Handelsblatt” that the supply of materials is slowly causing problems for the company. However, talks are being held to explore other transport options. The Essen-based hard coal group Steag and the industrial group Thyssen-Krupp, on the other hand, stated that they still had full warehouses. However, that will change when the levels drop.
In order for the goods to be able to be transported via inland waterways at all when the water levels are low, the freight has to be divided between several ships, explains Martina Becker, who is responsible for heavy shipping at HGK, in an interview with “Tagesschau”. “So almost everyone is fighting for the small space available in the water,” says Becker. The fact that half a load had to be loaded onto two ships also doubled the freight costs. Added to this are the high diesel prices.
A transfer of goods to rail or road does not seem to be an alternative at the moment. Construction sites in the Deutsche Bahn network and a high level of sick leave among the train drivers make transport by rail more difficult. According to DB Cargo production director Ralf Kloss, the block train business has already been throttled. Even trucks that can load a maximum of 25 tons of goods cannot replace a cargo ship that can hold 3,000 tons.
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