Lesser Water Levels across major rivers in the World is disrupting river shipping.

Low water levels after a drought and heatwave are stopping cargo vessels from sailing fully loaded on the Rhine river in Germany despite rain this week, commodity traders said on Friday. Low water is hampering shipping on all of the river south of Duisburg and Cologne, including the chokepoint of Kaub, traders said. Ships are generally only able to sail about half full. But cargo is still being delivered, with loads being carried by several vessels instead of one, traders said. Rain this week was only enough to stabilise water levels and did not bring a major improvement.

Shallow water means vessel operators impose surcharges on freight rates to compensate for vessels not sailing fully loaded, increasing costs for cargo owners. More rain and cooler temperatures are forecast in the next week, but a continued stabilisation of Rhine water levels rather than a major improvement is expected, traders said. The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities such as grains, minerals, ore, coal and oil products, including heating oil.

German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in 2022 after a drought and heatwave led to unusually low water levels on the Rhine.

Unusually low water levels on the Danube river in Hungary are affecting shipping, agriculture, and local ecosystems along Europe’s second-longest river, which is a major transport route across the continent.

Temperatures peaked at 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in Budapest this week as much of Europe baked in an early summer heatwave linked to the death of at least eight people. As a result of the low water levels, cargo ships must leave behind more than half of their cargo and can only operate at 30% – 40% capacity, Attila Bencsik, deputy president of the Hungarian Shipping Association, said.

Shipping rates might increase by as much as 100% as a surcharge is added when a ship cannot sail fully loaded, he said. Such low water levels have been previously recorded on the Danube, but they usually happen in August, Attila Szegi, a deputy spokesman for the Hungarian General Directorate of Water Management, said. Szegi has further reiterated that rain was expected in the Danube catchment area next week, which should lead to a slight rise in water levels and an improvement in the shipping situation.

The Hungarian state meteorological institute HungaroMet said that rainfall in June was only 17% of the average for that month, making this June the driest since 1901. The Vistula river was at a record low in Warsaw, and the Rhine in Germany was also unusually low.

Michał Sikora, a meteorologist and hydrologist at Poland’s IMGW, said that the Vistula River reached a record low level of 19 centimetres (7.48 inches) on Friday, adding that it is expected to decline further in the coming days, possibly to below 15 centimetres.

Team Maverick