A yellow and black water level gauge is fully visible near the Kaub gauging station (Kauber Pegelturm) in the Rhine river, in Kaub, Germany, August 10, 2026. [Photo/Agencies]
Germany's inland shipping association has warned that the Rhine River — Europe's most important inland commercial waterway — could soon be effectively split in two for freight as water levels plunge amid persistent hot weather across large parts of Europe this summer.
The association said the water gauge at a crucial freight bottleneck could drop into single digits this week, a threshold that would force vessels to carry drastically lighter loads or halt transits altogether, Germany's Deutsche Welle, or DW, news service reported.
Jens Schwanen, managing director of the Federal Association of German Inland Navigation, told Rheinische Post newspaper that, at such levels, ships would no longer be able to move goods reliably along the river's full length, threatening supply chains that depend on the Rhine.
"Commercial shipping will no longer be able to transport goods in the region at such low water levels," Schwanen said.
