With water levels at a historic low on the Rhine this sweltering summer, companies at Europe’s biggest and busiest port are paying part of the bill for the continent’s drought.
Cargo vessels carrying chemicals, oil and other goods to and from Rotterdam on the much-reduced river are being filled to only about 30 per cent capacity to lighten the load and prevent grounding. That means operators have to pay for about 100 extra barges a week and still cannot carry everything they transported before.
It is, says Lex Bezemer at the Port of Rotterdam Authority, “one of the most significant episodes we have experienced in recent decades”.
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