The continued heat of the Weather in Europe has led to a continuous decline in the level of the Rhine. This has forced companies that rely on water transport to limit their production capacity in order to reduce the volume of goods transported.
According to the Associated Press, on the 12th local time, the water level of the river near the German town of Kaub in the middle of the Rhine River has dropped to a critical point of about 40 centimeters, and further dropped to 38 centimeters that night. With no large-scale rainfall in the coming days, water levels in this section of the river are expected to continue to fall next week, severely affecting waterway transport in Germany.
Bastian Klein, an expert at the German Federal Institute of Hydrology: At present, the water level in the section of the river near the town of Kaub is about 40 centimeters, which is equivalent to only 1.5 meters of water depth, and by next Tuesday (16th), the water level may drop further to about 35 centimeters. For boats in the central Rhine region, which must sail south, the water level below 40 cm is too shallow for ordinary boats to pass.
About 4% of Germany's goods are transported by water, including the Rhine. Against the backdrop of EU sanctions against Russia causing Russia to reduce its energy supply to Germany, the German government began using mothballed coal power capacity in hopes of filling the energy gap. As the main artery of coal transportation, the Rhine is particularly important. If the water level in the section of the river near the town of Kaub falls further after falling below the 40-centimeter tipping point, Germany's industrial heartland will be in trouble and the energy crisis will intensify. Germany's Unipo said the low water level on the Rhine could cause two of its thermal power plants to become unavailable after September. Germany's Baden-Württemberg Power Company said in a statement that fuel transportation is restricted, falling river water levels are pushing up transportation costs, and land transport capacity is tight.
Some institutions predict that the lower rhine water level makes The German recession more likely. Deutsche Bank Research data shows that the drought in 2018, the water level of the Kaub section of the Rhine River fell to a record low, resulting in a 0.2% reduction in Germany's gross domestic product.
Source: CCTV Finance