The docks are eerily quiet at Cologne’s main port on the mighty River Rhine, with hundreds of containers piled up and awaiting their journey north on one of Europe’s busiest commercial arteries.
Months of scarce rainfall and hot sunny weather drove water levels on the Rhine to a record low, forcing ship operators to suspend services to keep vessels from running aground.
He said that under normal conditions, “three or four” of his big vessels would stop each day in the city known for its Gothic cathedral.
The few barges still chugging along the river have had to drastically reduce their cargo to stay afloat.
Sitting in his office overlooking the mountain of containers, Grossman said that rail links can only fill part of the gap as long as river transport is paralysed because of a lack of infrastructure and train engineers.
On its roof are two LED panels reading 1.55m (5.09’).
“This is the lowest level ever measured here,” said Jan Boehme, a hydrologist with the Water and Shipping Authority.
Torrid temperatures throughout the summer and only rare rainfall have transformed Germany’s waterways and created a crisis unseen since the start of record keeping in 1881.
The previous low water record set in Cologne in 2003 of 81cm (32”) was shattered last week when the level dipped to just 77cm, the water authorities said.
However, since the dry spell began, industrial giant Thyssenkrupp has had to cut back production at its Duisburg plant “because a sufficient supply of raw material cannot be assured”, a company spokesman said.