The historic drought gripping Germany has pushed the Rhine River to critically low levels, paralysing inland shipping and dealing a severe blow to the country’s steel industry. At the key chokepoint of Kaub, the water depth has dropped to just 31 centimetres, forcing barges to operate at a fraction of their normal capacity and sending transport costs soaring.
The low water level in Kaub, the narrowest and shallowest section of the Rhine, has fallen well below the 77-centimetre threshold considered the minimum for navigability. The optimal level of 250 centimetres allows fully laden vessels to pass, but once the depth drops below 135 centimetres, barges can only be loaded to half capacity. At 75 centimetres, that figure falls to one quarter, and at current levels of around 31 centimetres, some vessels are running at just 15 percent of their normal load.
The situation is particularly painful for the steel hub of Duisburg, home to major mills operated by Thyssenkrupp Steel and Salzgitter. Raw materials such as iron ore and coking coal, which are normally delivered by river barge, have become far more expensive to transport.
Steel giants face supply chain disruption
A spokesman for Thyssenkrupp Steel confirmed the severity of the crisis.
– Our fleet of push barges has been taken out of service due to the low water levels – the spokesman told S&P Energy.
One distributor quoted by Eurometal said the bottleneck is especially acute for raw material deliveries to Duisburg’s blast furnaces.
– This problem particularly affects supplies of raw materials to the blast furnaces of Duisburg, the largest steel basin in Germany, where Thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter have their plants – he said.
While finished steel products can be shifted to trucks, that option is far less practical for bulky commodities like iron ore and coke. Railways offer a theoretical alternative, but ongoing infrastructure works and capacity constraints limit their ability to fill the gap.
Soaring transport costs hit other industries
The Rhine’s woes are not limited to steel. Refineries importing crude oil and plants receiving gas are also feeling the pinch. According to Reuters, the cost of shipping a barge of crude oil from Rotterdam to Karlsruhe has jumped from €45 in June to between €120 and €125 in late July.
Argus Media notes that the reduced availability of locally refined products has coincided with the traditional summer peak in demand, driven by agricultural fieldwork and the construction season. On top of that, fuel retail prices in Germany have been hit by the expiration of tax relief measures at the end of June, mirroring similar moves in Poland.
The water level on the Rhine at Kaub has approached the all-time record low of 25 centimetres set in 2018, and forecasts suggest the river may fall even further in the coming days.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. Thyssenkrupp Steel
