Status: 07/20/2022 09:59 am
Cargo ships on the Rhine, Danube and other rivers in Germany may only be loaded up to 50 percent. This makes goods more expensive and makes it difficult to transport important goods such as coal and grain.
The persistent drought and the resulting low water have exacerbated the capacity bottlenecks in German inland shipping. Due to high temperatures and a lack of rain, the water levels of the Danube, Rhine and other rivers in Germany have fallen massively.
Cargo must be distributed to more ships
“We are only allowed to transport about 50 percent of the amount that we could transport,” said the board member of the German Transport Cooperative for inland waterways, Roberto Spranzi, the dpa news agency in Duisburg. Due to the smaller amount of cargo, the ships are lighter and not as deep in the water.
Experts such as Jens Schwanen, Managing Director of the Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB), speak of a “small water situation”. For shipping, small water means that the cargo has to be distributed among more ships. But they are hard to come by.
Ships for coal transport in demand
The capacity bottlenecks come at an inopportune time for the German economy, because the demand is high: after all, coal-fired power plants are being ramped up again all over Germany in order to generate electricity from coal in times of scarce gas supplies.
Inland shipping plays an important role in transporting the coal. But coal, like chemicals and gravel, is one of the heavy cargoes that push the ships particularly deep.
Grain transports from Ukraine via the Danube
In addition, some of the inland waterway vessels that usually travel on German rivers are currently involved in the transport of Ukrainian grain in Europe. Grain transports from the Ukraine towards the European Union are possible via the Danube, for example. “That has noticeably reduced freight capacity in this country,” says Spranzi, whose cooperative has more than 100 ships.
The Federal Association of German Inland Shipping (BDB), also based in Duisburg, speaks of an “enormously high demand for shipping space”, for example for coal, containers and grain.
Goods become more expensive because of the “small water surcharge”.
If barges are allowed to load less cargo than they can, they are generally not paid much less. “The lower discharge is compensated by the so-called small water surcharge,” explains industry representative Spranzi.
This surcharge is due at certain water levels – “and that largely compensates for the loss,” he says. “For corporate customers, this means: They get fewer goods and they are more expensive.”