The drying-up of Central European rivers is radically affecting goods movement there.
The graph below shows water levels at two gauges, one on the Rhine and one on the Danube. Both are dramatically lower. Barges on these rivers can carry less than 30% of their capacity. This prevents containers that arrived at Rotterdam and Antwerp and Hamburg area, for instance, from making it upstream to their destinations. Those goods will have to travel by road.
That’s not a good thing. It adds to air pollution, uses more oil-based fuel, and stresses highway systems already near capacity.
Europe has bet big on river traffic as a cleaner alternative to road carriage. For a few years, it worked. Now it is threatened by climate change.
There’s no way to predict when, if ever, the rivers will come back.
19 Aug 2026
https://www.drewry.co.uk/maritime-research-opinion-browser/kaub-gauge-falls-to-an-historic-low
Supply Chain and Logistics 