Prolonged heat and widespread drought have pushed the Rhine and Danube rivers to extremely low water levels, putting pressure on Europe's inland transport and energy supply.
Water levels in the middle reaches of the Rhine River have dropped to their lowest level on record, according to Germany's Waterways and Shipping Administration.
As the water level falls, the available channel depth for cargo ships shrinks, forcing ships to significantly reduce their cargo and raising transportation costs in turn.
On Thursday, the country's central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, warned that the low water levels are increasing transportation costs and slowing freight movement, weighing on industrial output and exports.
The persistently low water levels on the Danube are also severely restricting upstream transport, leaving vast stockpiles of coal and other commodities piled up at the Port of Constanta, Romania.
Constanta is a major gateway between the Black Sea and Europe's inland waterway network, making it a crucial transit point for coal shipments bound for Serbia.
Roughly 900 kilometers upstream, Serbia's Nikola Tesla Thermal Power Plant (TENT) in Obrenovac, central Serbia, depends in part on coal transported along the Danube from Constanta. But receding water levels are making the supply route increasingly difficult to navigate.
TENT is Serbia's largest power-generation complex and produces roughly half of the country's electricity.
Barges and tankers at TENT are operating at only 30 percent to 40 percent of normal capacity because of the low Danube levels, according to Serbian Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic.
Low water levels put pressure on Europe's inland transport, energy supply
Low water levels put pressure on Europe's inland transport, energy supply
Low water levels put pressure on Europe's inland transport, energy supply
