Falling River Rhine Levels in Europe Impact Plant, Terminal Operations
Many major refineries and chemical plants are located on the banks of the River Rhine, with the bulk of these located in the ARA region and the Ruhr region in Germany. Plant operators use the Rhine to move finished product to either deep sea ports in ARA or to customers along the river. Similarly, feedstock is shipped on the Rhine from terminals in ARA to the plant.
Thus, the Rhine is a crucial artery for the European chemical and refining sector as well as being crucial to its efficient and smooth operations. Delays in receiving feedstock or shipping product from the plant can lead to potentially costly delays and other issues for it.
Yet, for much of this decade the Rhine has been beset by unusual fluctuations in its levels that have caused not just severe disruption to refinery and chemical plant operations but also economic penalties for them in terms of higher freight costs, lowering runs as they either can only ship lower volumes of product out of the plant or receive less feedstock to run the plant.
In its simplest terms, if the Rhine level is too high, a barge may not be able to sail under the many bridges along the Rhine as it will be too high in the water. Should the level be too low then the barge risks grounding at various portions of the river. To overcome these problems, barges are forced to carry less cargo, leading to higher barge freight and more barges to move cargoes.
Why is the Rhine Important?
The bulk of chemicals and petroleum products flowing on the Rhine are imported or exported from Rotterdam, Netherlands – Europe’s largest port.
The Rotterdam port authority data recorded 24.7 million metric tons of crude oil moved through the port in the first quarter 2025, down 2.1% from the same quarter 2024. 6.4 million mt of petroleum products were handled by the port in the January – March 2025 period, 12.3% below the same three-month timeframe in 2024.
Data from the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR) illustrates how important the Rhine is in moving goods within Europe. It noted that on average 600 vessels, mainly barges, use the Dutch/German border point on the Rhine. An average 400 ships sail to/from Cologne—the main gateway for Germany’s Ruhr region and 200 move to Karlsruhe—which would cover the BASF Ludwigshafen chemical site—one of the largest in Europe.
The CCNR added that around 200 million mt of goods are shipped each year at the Dutch/German border, with 310 million mt moved on the Dutch section of the Rhine—most of it being in the ARA region.
Overall, CCNR estimates 6,900 vessels use the Rhine carrying 10 million mt. 1,200 vessels are pushed barges, 4,400 motor cargo vessels, some of which may be barges, and 1,300 are tankers.
In a research note on the ARA Barge market, Dutch market research firm Insights Global highlighted the issues facing the barge market in June as being soft freight, sporadic demand and terminal delays.
Mixed Barge Freight Rates
Barge broker Riverlake provide a mixed picture for freight rates on key barge trades. On the ARA cross harbour route (vessels moving inside ARA only) average rates in the 1 -9 July period are €3.83 ($4.48)/mt, down by €0.88/mt from the average for the first nine days of June. On the Rotterdam—Cologne freight rates over the first nine days of June at €16.83/mt were €1.83/mt above those for the same date range in July. Barges moving to Karlsruhe from Rotterdam, however, paid an average €1.65/mt less over the July 1 -9 timeframe at €27.42/mt compared with the like period in June.
Lower Barge Cargo Volumes
Falling Rhine levels are resulting in barges being able to carry less cargo. When the Rhine levels are at their usual levels, barges can typically carry up to 5,000 mt cargo, with some able to move more than this. Lower levels at present mean that as of July 10, barges moving to the Maxau Pegel (a depth measuring mark) can load around 1,350 mt, while those sailing to Cologne can carry 1,700 mt.
These lower capacities are causing logistics problems for many refinery and chemical plant operators in terms of being able to move product/feedstock in and out of the site by barge.
One chemicals distributor informed OPIS that reduced carrying capacity of barges has meant that it is not able to secure its feedstock requirements as planned and they have to often reschedule them as well as the plant’s run rates. At the same time its supplier has complained the failure to lift the nominated feedstock volume from its plant is creating operational issues at its site.
This is one example OPIS is aware of, but it is most likely typical for many plant operators along the Rhine.
Riverlake predicts that Rhine levels are expected to fall in July as a result of the current dry spell in the Rhine catchment area as well as along the length of the river. The broker notes in its July 10 report “Present loading capacities there (the Maxau pegel) are around 1,350 mt. Further downstream, intakes at Köln are still manageable at approximately 1700 mt, but these are expected to decline steadily as well through the end of the month.”
Terminals Unable to Unload Cargoes Quickly
The lower cargo volumes able to be carried by barges are also impacting terminal operations, mainly in ARA. Terminals are not able to discharge typical volumes onto barges at present and so it takes longer to move product out of the terminal. This in turn means vessels waiting to discharge its cargo into the terminal may not be able to do so or can only partially discharge. Either way vessels are delayed in the port.
The lower barge cargo capacity means that often charters cannot secure extra barges to move the full volume of product they were scheduled to lift from the terminal. So far there has been limited impact on rates from this because of weak demand and summer holidays when activity slows down.
The fact Rhine levels are projected to fall and so causing barges to carry less cargo means that for July at least, terminals will struggle to clear product out as expected and problems will remain in discharging cargoes into them—potentially causing vessels to remain at berth longer and so tie up tonnage.
–Reporting by Yazdi Merchant, ymerchant@opisnet.com