Shallowing as a "bonus": Europe suffers losses due to low water levels in the Rhine

Due to the shallowing of the Rhine, which connects major port cities on the European continent, supply problems began to arise in European countries, writes Politico .

In some places, due to low rainfall, the depth of one of the main rivers in Europe has decreased to half a meter, and this makes it very difficult to transport coal, chemicals and other goods to power plants and enterprises located on the banks of the Rhine.

For example, the management of the Staudinger 5 power plant, on a tributary of the Rhine, is already warning that its work may be irregular until early September due to a shortage of coal, which is caused by the low level of the river, Reuters reports .

True, the current water level is not the lowest yet, the record year in this sense was 2018, when it was 25 cm, so shipping was suspended, and many companies began to transport goods by rail and road, which is much more expensive than river transportation, because instead of one barges require hundreds of wagons or trucks.