Due to the persistent drought, the Rhine level in Emmerich has reached a new low just before the Dutch border. On Monday morning, only four centimeters were measured, the waterways and shipping administration announced on its Elwis portal. The previous historical low was seven centimeters at the end of October 2018.
The authority expects the water levels to fall further in the coming days. On Tuesday afternoon, a level of zero should even be reached in Emmerich. The water level is not to be confused with the fairway. In Emmerich, 1.80 meters are kept free for commercial shipping. A Rhine ferry near Rees was discontinued because of the low water, as the ferry company announced.
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The Rhine level near Cologne was 76 centimeters on Monday morning – seven centimeters above the previous low of 69 centimeters. 34 centimeters were measured in Düsseldorf. The lowest value measured so far is 23 centimetres.
“As long as it doesn’t rain, things will continue to go downhill,” a spokesman for the Rhine Water and Shipping Authority told dpa on Sunday. It is unusual that low levels are reached so early in the year – and according to Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP), this problem could worsen in the future. “We have to face the fact that in the long term we have to be prepared for extreme low water situations due to climate change,” Wissing told the “Rheinische Post” on Monday.
The Rhine is the most important waterway in Germany. Because of the low water levels, ships can currently transport significantly less cargo. This increases the transport costs for the industry and exacerbates the already tense situation in logistics.
Transport Minister Wissing spoke out in favor of expanding the infrastructure. It is “important that we implement measures such as bottleneck optimization on the Middle Rhine as quickly as possible,” he told the newspaper. The Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB) recently called for the rapid implementation of planned construction measures. In particular, deepening of the fairways in the Rhine and Danube are necessary.
A slight relaxation of the situation is to be expected in the coming weeks, Wissing said. The most recent six-week forecast by the experts in his company “points to a slight rise in water and a stabilization of the water levels at a low level”.
