(ANSA) – BERLIN, 12 AUGUST – Drought hits the Rhine, an important commercial transport route in Germany. Today south of Koblenz, at the measuring point of the Kaub bottleneck, a water level of 45 cm was measured. As Spiegel reports, only 33 cm would be expected for Monday. The measurement points do not indicate the deepest parts of the river bed, but those are also increasingly smaller. The BfG, Federal Hydrological Institute, explained that barges can still cross the Rhine to a water level of about 30-35 centimeters at the Kaub point.
As reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the problem is that the boats now have to move in waters slightly deeper than 1.5 meters and are already forced to reduce their loads of goods by 30-40%. This practice involves additional costs and is worrying because a part of the coal increasingly necessary to respond to the German energy crisis is also transported by river.
The Ministry of Transport has already announced that it intends to organize alternative rail transport with the Ministry of Economy. According to an anticipation, the president of the German Federal Waterways Administration, Hans-Heinrich Witte, however, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that he does not expect the cessation of maritime traffic on the Rhine. “Theoretically it is possible, but I do not think it is. likely, “Witte said. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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