But it did enamour me with my city, seen from the river. This experience, which I indeed remember with fondness, did not enamour me with the canoe, to which I do not think myself particularly suited. More than once, I also found myself swimming in the icy water of the river and, cli holding on to the capsized canoe as Itryied to pull it back upthe river bank, so I could set out yet again for the upteenh time. I capsized more than once by making a wrong manoeuvre. For amateur canoeists like us, this was an insurmountable point due to the presence of rapids Always strictly in the company of an instructor, we set off from the old dock at the former customs post ,heading up river, We went up bridge after bridge until the Ponte Pietra. I had never held a paddle in my hand before and what followed was not exactly straightforward. Instead of going for a run in the park or meeting up for a game of tennis or mini-football a couple of times in the week, we made an appointment to meet up in the morning before work along the bankof the Adige River to go canoeing. Photograph: The water level gauge in Kaub, western Germany, in August 12, 2022.A few years ago, a friend of mine got me involved in a sport activity which was – to say the least – original. Benchmark natural gas futures rose on Monday, while German year-ahead power jumped to a new record.

In late 2018, the level fell as low as 24 centimeters.Įnergy prices on the continent have soared as a heat wave bears down upon the region. Prior to November 2013, data are tallied on a daily, rather than intraday basis. The measured water-level at Kaub hasn’t been this low at this time of year since at least 1990, according to official data compiled by Bloomberg. For now, the company is using a vessel that can haul 200 tons of liquefied gases at 30 centimeters. That’s significantly more than other tankers and about 25% of its capacity in average low water, BASF has said. 19.Ĭhemical maker BASF SE later this year plans to put into service a new, low-water vessel that can haul 650 tons of cargo with the Kaub level at 30 centimeters, which the company said corresponds to a water depth of 1.6 meters (5.25 feet). 11 that its barges weren’t able to call at Cologne and Dusseldorf - downriver from Kaub - and that inland waterway barge handling would be possible again from around Aug. Last week, shipping company Contargo, which also operates terminals, said that a drop at Kaub to below 40 centimeters would prompt it to largely discontinue its barge business on the middle and upper Rhine. The WSA said it hasn’t imposed shipping restrictions, noting that when water levels are low, less cargo can be transported. The marker is not the actual depth of the river, but rather a reference for navigability. Many barges find it uneconomical to transit past Kaub when the water level there is at 40 centimeters or below. The Rhine is western Europe’s most important river for the transport of fuel and other industrial goods. Historic Drought, Low River Levels Threaten to Cripple Trade Across Europe “They are the result of the lack of precipitation in recent weeks and months.” “The current water levels on the Middle and Lower Rhine are currently at an exceptionally low level for this time of year,” the Rhine Waterways and Shipping Authority, known as WSA, said in a statement.

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