The water level of the Rhine River has dropped to the lowest level in the last 150 years, as hot and dry weather grips Europe, threatening to disrupt a crucial route for transporting coal, fuel, and industrial raw materials across a vast area of the continent.
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On Monday, the water level at Kaub, a key bottleneck point for ships heading to southern Germany and Switzerland, dropped to 24 centimeters. According to German federal data collected by ETH Zurich, this is the lowest value since measurements began in 1880.
With the fourth heatwave set to hit Western Europe this summer, lasting into early this week, the situation risks creating logistical bottlenecks on a river that winds about 800 miles (1,290 kilometers) from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea.
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The drop in Rhine levels has already caused freight transport rates to rise significantly, as barges are forced to reduce their load to navigate shallow waters.
The cost of shipping diesel from Rotterdam to Karlsruhe — further inland than the closely monitored Kaub bottleneck — has risen to the highest level since Bloomberg began collecting data in 2009.
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