London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 22, 2025

Germany Is Re-Engineering Europe’s Most Important River

Germany Is Re-Engineering Europe’s Most Important River

The Rhine is Germany’s main economic artery. Keeping it flowing may require new boats, once-taboo locks, and even changing the current of the river itself.

Two shipping brothers on Germany’s Rhine faced a dilemma that has become increasingly common on Europe’s most important river.

With the waters precariously low, Stephen and Torsten Mnich fretted over whether to haul 1,000 tons of potassium salt to a BASF SE chemical plant upriver - a lucrative assignment for the family business. If the level dropped further during the multi-day voyage in mid-August, they risked running aground. It was a toss up, and in the end, they called their mom.


Stephen Mnich secures a mooring rope at Mannheim port on the Rhine, on August 13.


“She has a feeling for the weather,” said 28-year-old Stephen, whose mother spent 27 years on a boat, raising him and his eight siblings. “She feels it’s going to rain, so we’ll be alright.”

But not all businesses reliant on the Rhine have a wily river oracle at their side, so Germany is pushing to secure commerce on this critical artery. The multi-pronged effort involves an elaborate model of the trickiest stretch, re-engineering boats and even mulling once-taboo new locks. After low waters forced shipping on stretches to all but cease two years ago, there’s a sense of urgency.

“2018 was a wake-up call,” said Jelle Vreeman, a shipbroker at the Rhine’s mouth in Rotterdam. “It will happen again. The German authorities don’t have a choice but to do something about it for the long term.”

Dotted with medieval fortresses and enshrined in German legend, the Rhine is an intrinsic part of the country’s mystique and a key part of its modern-day competitiveness. Around 30% of Germany’s coal, iron ore and natural gas is transported along the river, where factories are set up to take deliveries for just-in-time manufacturing. The disruption in 2018 contributed to a contraction in the German economy.

Economic Lifeline

The Rhine links German and Swiss industry with Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest port



The Rhine provides cheap transport for Europe’s industrial heartland, snaking 800 miles through industrial zones in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands before emptying into the North Sea. There’s no real viable alternative. An average barge is capable of carrying 2,500 tons, while more than 110 trucks would be needed to carry the same load, clogging up Germany’s congested road and rail network.

Maintaining a reliable flow of goods and supplies is critical, especially as China targets Germany’s position as a leader in advanced manufacturing. The giant inland port of Duisburg on the Ruhr river, which connects to the Rhine, is the terminus of the Asian country’s massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.


A cargo barge sails past the BASF SE plant on the River Rhine in Ludwigshafen, on July 22.


Volker Wissing, transport minister for BASF’s home state of Rhineland-Palatinate, eyes construction of new factories in China and India with suspicion, worrying that Germany’s industrial strength could ebb if Rhine shipping suffers. Climate change threatens to make summers drier and reduce melt water from alpine glaciers, making river levels more volatile.

“We have to make sure that we maintain Germany as an important industrial location,” said Wissing, noting that barge transport is more environmentally friendly than trucks or trains.

His state is the site of the romantic mid-Rhine valley, where the Lorelei cliffs tower over passing vessels. It’s the toughest stretch for captains like the Mnich brothers. When they took turns steering their boat through the rocks last month, the depth gage at times showed less than one meter (3.3 feet) of water beneath the keel.

In this area of the Rhine, the German government wants to scrape off some of the jutting rocks and change the current so that ships can load an extra 200 or more tons. But the plan isn’t easy.

Engineers have to balance high- and low-water situations, shipping needs and environmental concerns. Because of the complex currents and topography of the river bed, German authorities constructed a scale model that’s nearly as big as a basketball court.

“I think no one has ever built something like this before,” said Christoph Heinzelmann, director of Germany’s Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute, showing a 90-degree curve in the Rhine and each detail of the riverbed.


The Federal Waterways model of the River Rhine bed.


Water streams into the model and takes red and white particles along that symbolize sand and gravel. One of the issues becomes quickly apparent: the sediment accumulates in the corner, blocking one side while sharp rocks limit the passage on the other.

“Finding a solution for this part of the Rhine is the Olympics of water engineering,” said Heinzelmann. “We know we’ll get there in the end, but can’t say which way yet is the best.”

Dredging out the sand wouldn’t be a long-term fix because the river would promptly fill it back, while regular digging would block the waterway, defeating the entire purpose of the effort. So engineers are thinking of changing the current below the surface so less sediment accumulates.

Retooling the fleet is another part of the plan. The German government wants to subsidize a retrofit of old barges to optimize them for lower water levels by 2021 - aid which is currently being reviewed by the European Union. Another project involves equipping barges with sensors to localize bumps in the riverbed.

That’s the preferred course for environmentalists. Their worst-case scenario is interrupting the flow of the river with new locks, an idea revived by German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer. It’s highly controversial, and his colleagues in the Environment Ministry have rejected the plan.


The bed of the Rhine exposed by the 2018 drought in Duesseldorf.


But for those that ply the river like the Mnich brothers, any measure is worth considering to avoid a repeat of the situation in 2018.

As they made their way up river, they pushed their aging barge, which is better suited for low water because it’s small compared to more modern boats, as fast as they could to arrive at the rocky parts before the levels could fall again.

When they got there, some rocks were sticking out of the water at the sides, but their mother was right. The river was just high enough to let them pass.

“I would like to see a lock if it helps us to plan safer routes,” said Stephen Mnich. “But I am not sure if the economic benefits outweigh the environmental impact.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
×