Transport costs soar amid low water levels in Rhine

Reno without water and soaring transport costs; petrol prices rise Keystone-SDA

The exceptionally low water level of the Rhine is causing difficulties for fuel logistics to Switzerland, with transport costs soaring from CHF22–28 ($27-34) to as much as CHF240 per tonne from Rotterdam to Basel.

According to the Swiss Touring Club (TCS), this increase translates into a rise in prices at the pump of between 12 and 16 centimes per litre of petrol.

The cause is the river running dry, forcing barges to travel with loads reduced to a minimum, with the stretch at Kaub (Rhineland-Palatinate) effectively cut off for vessels coming from northern European ports. The result is a crisis that compounds the already delicate summer situation, with Switzerland relying on the Rhine for around a fifth of its oil imports.

Despite the surge in costs, supplies remain guaranteed. This has been confirmed by the Federal Office for Economic Supply (FOES), which refers to “severely limited” transport capacity but states that this can be offset by rail, road, oil pipelines and company stocks.

+ Rhine almost no longer navigable owing to low water levels

Government minister Albert Rösti has, however, admitted that it may soon be necessary to draw on strategic reserves of petroleum products. “We are experiencing record-breaking heat and the heatwave is extraordinary: there is still no end in sight,” said the Minister for Transport and the Environment yesterday. Distribution companies such as Volenergy, which supplies the BP, Shell and Ruedi Rüssel brands, are already tackling the crisis by drawing on their warehouses and the refinery in Cressier in canton Neuchatel.

Like so many other sectors, the oil industry is also waiting for rain: but even an isolated thunderstorm would not be enough to raise the river level, which would require heavy and prolonged rainfall. Motorists must therefore remain on guard: for the time being, price rises at the pump have been partly masked by a slight fall in crude oil prices due to an easing of international tensions, but the logistical costs remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, economists at Swiss bank Raiffeisen are playing down the impact that the low water levels of the Rhine will have on the national economy, estimating an effect on gross domestic product (GDP) of no more than 0.1%.

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Translated from Italian, reviewed by an English Department journalist.