Rhine and Danube Hit Record Lows, Threatening European Shipping and Industry

The Rhine and Danube have both reached historically low water levels this summer, Deutsche Welle reported, disrupting shipping and agriculture and raising concern about drinking water supplies across the region. TASS reported that the Rhine has fallen to a historic minimum, attributing the drop to reduced rainfall in recent months.

At the Kaub gauge in Germany, Deutsche Welle reported, barge clearance has dropped to levels not seen since records began in 1880, forcing commercial vessels to cut their loads by as much as 80 percent to avoid running aground. The gauge fell to 21 centimeters, and forecasters projected a further drop to 17 centimeters, according to Bloomberg. Chemicals companies, refineries, and metals producers are among the hardest hit industries, since there is no fully viable alternative to river transport for moving coal, fuel, ore, and chemical raw materials through Germany's industrial corridor.

The drought has since spread from a shipping problem into an energy problem. Hungary shut down its only nuclear power plant, at Paks, for the first time in the facility's 44-year history after the Danube's falling water level left too little water to cool its reactors, according to NBC News. The plant normally supplies roughly 40 percent of Hungary's electricity. Romania shut down two reactors at its Cernavoda nuclear plant for the same reason last month and declared a nationwide state of emergency over the resulting decline in electricity production, the same report said. In Budapest, the Danube fell to 10 centimeters, breaking a previous record low of 33 centimeters set in 2018, according to CNN.

The disruption arrived earlier in the season than usual, with low water already constraining shipping and power generation in early August rather than in autumn, when such conditions traditionally peak.