Shipping on the Rhine River has reached the verge of collapse due to a sharp drop in water levels.
Sea-news.az reports that this information was broadcast by the NTV television channel.
At one of the river’s main measuring stations, the water level plummeted to 6 centimeters, breaking the absolute anti-record.
Near the town of Kaub, the water level does not even allow lightly loaded vessels to pass. Previously, the lowest recorded figure in Kaub was 25 centimeters, registered in October 2018.
Water level readings at various measuring stations along the Rhine cannot be directly compared with one another because there is no unified zero-level indicator. However, the main channel used for navigation is significantly deeper than the water level recorded at the riverbank measuring station.
Like other European rivers, including the Danube, the shallowing of the Rhine in recent months is linked to low levels of precipitation.
According to experts’ estimates, Germany could lose 0.1 to 0.2 percent of its GDP in the third quarter of 2026 due to reduced river navigation.
