Low water levels after heatwaves and drought are limiting shipping on some of Europe\u2019s biggest rivers including the Rhine and the Danube and pushing up transport costs.<\/p>\n
As much of Europe swelters in hot temperatures, water levels in its main rivers have fallen. This is affecting shipping along the Rhine \u2013 one of Europe\u2019s key waterways \u2013 south of Duisburg and Cologne in Germany<\/a>, including the choke point of Kaub, forcing vessels to sail about half full.<\/p>\n Rainfall over the weekend caused only a moderate rise in water levels, according to commodity traders.<\/p>\n Shallow water has prompted ship operators to impose surcharges on freight rates to compensate for vessels not sailing fully loaded, increasing costs for cargo owners. Traders told Reuters that loads that are normally transported on one vessel were being carried on several barges.<\/p>\n Most of the nearly 200m tonnes of cargo shipped on German rivers each year \u2013 from coal to car parts, grains and food to chemicals \u2013 is transported on the Rhine, the second longest river in central and western Europe after the Danube.<\/p>\n Unusually low water levels on the Danube in Hungary<\/a> are affecting shipping and agriculture, as temperatures peaked at 35C in Budapest last week. This means cargo ships must leave behind more than half of their loads and can only operate at 30-40% capacity, Attila Bencsik, the deputy president of the Hungarian Shipping Association, said.<\/p>\n In Poland, the water level in the Vistula, the country\u2019s longest river, has fallen to its lowest ever recorded level in Warsaw<\/a> as temperatures stayed above 30C for a prolonged spell and there has been little rainfall.<\/p>\n Three years ago, German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems<\/a> after a drought and heatwave led to unusually low water levels on the Rhine<\/a>.<\/p>\n That summer, the French energy supplier EDF had to temporarily reduce output<\/a> at its nuclear power stations on the Rh\u00f4ne and Garonne rivers as heatwaves pushed up their temperatures, restricting its ability to use their water to cool the plants.<\/p>\n More rain is forecast in Germany in the coming days, which could raise water levels.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The lack of rainfall is causing problems elsewhere. In Yorkshire in the UK, water reservoirs have plunged. Data released by Yorkshire Water, which has more than 5 million customers, showed levels had dropped further from 63% recorded in May<\/a> to 55.8% in June<\/a> \u2013 significantly below the average (81.9%) for this time of year.<\/p>\n Reservoirs are close to half full, with most of the summer still ahead. Yorkshire\u2019s reservoirs have been declining since late January amid the driest spring for 132 years in the county and England\u2019s warmest June on record. During warm weather, water usage usually increases, which further affects reservoir levels. Customers used almost 1.5bn litres on 30 June \u2013 200m litres above Yorkshire Water\u2019s typical daily output.<\/p>\n