Rhine Water Levels Hit New Low, Adding to Strain on German Industry

Water levels on the Rhine, one of Europe's busiest shipping corridors, have dropped to a fresh low, official data showed, disrupting barge traffic and production along the river.

The gauge at Kaub, a narrow point near Koblenz that is closely watched as a benchmark for the waterway, touched 0 cm late on Monday before recovering to 5 cm early on Tuesday, according to inland navigation agency WSV.

An agency spokesperson said last week that the records being set this September had not yet been verified, but that "unaudited raw data suggest that historical records are being broken." The riverbed at the site lies more than a metre below the gauge, which is traditionally used to measure local levels.

Persistently low water has become a drag on Germany's economy, especially its chemicals sector, by limiting barge traffic for companies such as BASF, Bayer and Covestro.

When the Kaub gauge stays below 78 cm for 30 consecutive days — as happened in 2022 and 2018 — German industrial production typically falls by about 1%, according to the economic institute IfW.

So far, however, the wider German economy has held up better than expected, with growth forecasts revised higher and business sentiment improving despite elevated energy prices and logistical bottlenecks.

"The low water levels are unlikely to be a one-off phenomenon," said RWI chief economist Torsten Schmidt, adding that climate change raised a fundamental question about whether production sites would have to be relocated away from the river.

"That is the more important question for the economic outlook," he said.