FRANKFURT – Dwindling water levels on some of Germany’s major rivers worsened by heat and drought are raising fears that badly constrained riverboat cargo traffic may deal yet another blow to the struggling economy.

The Rhine riverbed is partially dry near steelmaker thyssenkrupp’s blast furnaces in Duisburg, a picture of how the low waters pose a new challenge for German industry.

The mighty waterway also winds past car factories, chemical plants and big river ports as it passes through the industrial heartland of Europe’s biggest economy.

Shallow water is imposing tighter limits on how much ship cargo can float down the river – sending prices up for riverboat freight and heaping pressure on the government to act.

On Aug 6, newly appointed Transport Minister Steffen Bilger plans to meet in Bonn with industrial executives, shipping companies and port bosses in hopes of finding practical solutions to the unfolding crisis.

Michael Ebling, economy minister for Rhineland-Palatinate state, has called on the government to fast-track a project to deepen a key stretch of the Rhine in Germany, arguing that this strategic waterway must remain operational year-round.

The river handles around 80 per cent of Germany’s inland waterway traffic, according to Rico Luman, an economist at ING.

Every year, some 285 million tonnes of goods travel along the river which links many of Germany’s biggest industrial hubs with the major Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Industry feeling the pinch

The port in Duisburg, in Germany’s steel-producing Ruhr region, has reported that vessel loading capacities have dropped to about one-third of their usual levels.

The lower loads have led to a 50 to 60 per cent increase in the number of port calls in recent weeks, as well as a shift of cargo towards smaller vessels, rail and road transport.

In the oil sector, loads are sometimes capped at ...