The port in Duisburg, in Germany's steel-producing Ruhr region, has reported that vessel loading capacities have dropped to about one-third of their usual levels
Dwindling water levels on Germany’s big rivers, worsened by heat and drought, are raising fears that badly constrained riverboat cargo traffic may deal another blow to the struggling economy.
The Rhine riverbed has partially dried up near steelmaker Thyssenkrupp’s blast furnaces in Duisburg, a picture of how the low water levels pose a new challenge for German industry.
The mighty waterway also winds past car factories, chemical plants and big river ports as it passes through the industrial heartland of Europe’s biggest economy and takes cargo all the way to ports in the Netherlands.
Shallow water is imposing tighter limits on how much cargo can float down the river – sending prices up for freight, and heaping pressure on the government to act.
