A low Rhine is hampering Europe’s chemical traffic

Abstract

The lowestrecorded water level on the Rhine River, caused by a drought in Western Europe, has slowed chemical traffic and is forcing companies to cut production and ration shipments to customers. The Rhine is a major thoroughfare for the chemical industry. And major plants, such as BASF’s complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany, line its shore. In 2017, the Rhine transported 186 million metric tons of commodity traffic, about half of all of Europe’s, according to the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine. Chemical shipments made up 11% of that volume. According to the barge operator Interrijn, water levels at Kaub, Germany, a choke point on the river between Ludwigshafen and Cologne, dipped to 27 cm on Oct. 24, about 50 cm below where they were only a month before. At such levels, a small barge can carry no more than 400 metric tons of cargo, says Louis Bosman, Interrijn’s