Rhine Falls to Record Low Levels as Drought Strains Europe's Key Shipping Lanes

Europe's worst summer drought in years has pushed the Rhine — one of the continent's busiest waterways — to record low levels, threatening shipping, industry, and power generation just as a new heatwave builds.

Record Lows

The BBC reported on August 3 that gauging stations in western Germany and at Lobith, where the Rhine crosses into the Netherlands, recorded levels lower than at any point since records began. On Friday, the navigable water depth at the Kaub chokepoint near Koblenz hit the 2018 record low of 25cm before recovering slightly on Monday. Germany's Low Water Information System (NIWIS) said 44% of Rhine measuring stations — and 78% of those on the Danube — recorded extremely low water at the end of July.

The Economic Fallout

Kaub is the key indicator of Rhine navigability: when levels fall there, cargo vessels must load much lighter. Martin Wolters of the Rhine Waterways and Shipping Authority told German outlet WDR that shipping would not be suspended outright, but cargo will have to be spread across more vessels — pushing transport costs up and creating supply bottlenecks. "There comes a time when loads are too small to be worthwhile or vessel owners are worried about damaging their ships," one commodity trader told Reuters.

Beyond the Rhine

The Danube fell last week to its lowest levels in 30 years in several countries, including Serbia and Romania, leaving Hungary's only nuclear power plant on the brink of shutting down. Serbia cut output at coal-fired plants because cooling water was scarce; Romania carried out a controlled explosion on a rock in the Danube to boost flow toward the Cernavoda nuclear plant; and Dacia and Ford car plants in Romania agreed to halt production for more than two weeks. Italy's Po hit a historic low near Cremona, and authorities raised the drought alert to "high" across the Po Valley.

What's Next

The EU's Drought Observatory says conditions remain critical across most of Europe, with renewed heatwave conditions expected to push temperatures above 40C in many central and southern European countries for at least another week. With the 2018 Rhine crisis estimated to have cost billions in lost shipping, the economic stakes of this summer's drought are mounting by the day.