Europe has faced increasingly severe heatwaves in recent years, with the past few months bringing a number of extreme heat-related incidents, including droughts and wildfires across Spain, France, Italy and elsewhere.
But a further impact has been emerging in other parts of Europe, as key waterways such as the Rhine and the Danube have fallen to exceptionally low levels, in some places breaking records.
This could make cargo transport significantly more difficult, potentially forcing vessels to carry smaller loads, causing commercial shipping on parts of these routes to grind almost to a halt or requiring operators to adopt more cumbersome alternatives.
Major European industries, including oil refining and chemicals, could therefore face severe disruption.
How could drying waterways affect key European industries?
