Logistics: Cologne and Duisburg breathe a sigh of relief – water march on the Rhine
Breathe a sigh of relief on the Rhine: The river finally deserves its name again and is no longer a trickle. Thanks to the heavy rainfall since the beginning of September, the Rhine can now be used as a transport route again. Just a few weeks ago, dramatic low water levels were measured in many places. For example, the level in Düsseldorf in August was 28 cm, just 5 cm above the historic low of 2018.
The Federal Association of German Inland Shipping emphasizes how important the Rhine is for German inland logistics. According to this, the Rhine represents the most important and busiest inland waterway in Europe. It is also said that around 80 percent of goods traffic in inland waterways takes place on this international highway. This is exactly what is currently being shown in the inland ports of NRW. In the coal terminals, stocks are declining for the first time since July due to the regular volume of traffic and transport on the Rhine – just under 8 million tonnes of coal are still waiting there to be picked up. Which begs the question: What does the Ukraine war actually mean for the Chinese project of the century, the “New Silk Road”?