A few weeks ago, we published about the severe drought of the biggest river in Italy, the Po River (recall here). Now the news is about the River Rhine, one of the main European rivers, which begins in the Swiss Alps crosses Germany and flows into the Netherlands, where it eventually empties into the North Sea, in the region of Rotterdam. It represents an important waterway, agricultural irrigation and a relevant source of fresh water for the Netherlands. This low level was only observed twice in the last 100 years. And a river with impaired navigability can affect the flow of everything, from fuel to chemicals. When transport barges cannot navigate fully loaded, more transport barges are needed for the same amount of cargo. For instance, the cost for transporting fuel between Germany and Basel, Switzerland, was EUR 25/ton a few months ago and it is now EUR 200 (!). In other words, costs are out of control. In 2018, the last time Rhine water dropped significantly, it caused the quarterly German GDP to grop 0.4%. Click on the image to see the impact in the Netherlands by Dutchnews and here for the impact in Germany by Bloomberg.
