Rhine River sinks to another record low as transport shifts to land

FRANKFURT- Water levels on the Rhine river fell to record lows overnight as a heatwave across Europe continued, data from Germany's inland navigation agency WSV showed on Saturday, meaning most transport was shifted to trucks and trains.

WSV data showed the water level gauge at the chokepoint of Kaub near Koblenz fell to 6 centimetres (2.4 inches) late on Friday and was 8 cm early on Saturday.

WSV data had shown 10 cm for Kaub early on Friday, which was also below the previous record level of 25 cm recorded in 2018.

The river is about 1 metre deeper than the gauge, which has been traditionally used as an indicator to measure local levels.

Kaub levels were last above the 78 cm level in mid-July.

As a rule of thumb, if the water level gauge at Kaub falls below 78 centimetres for 30 straight days, as was the case in 2022 and 2018, industrial production falls by 1%, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The Rhine is one of Europe's most important transport arteries, needed to ship chemicals, commodities, fuel and other goods.

German companies have started to report disruption from low Rhine water levels.

Chemical producers, utilities, steelmakers and agricultural traders have warned of higher costs, transport bottlenecks and reduced production.

Reporting by Christoph Steitz; editing by Barbara Lewis/Reuters