The level of the Rhine, which is transported by 80% of all cargo transported by water in Germany, has decreased to such dangerous values that this week the river can become impassable for the barge, which will jeopardize the country’s vital for the country, writes The Daily Mail.
As notes, in 2018, when Europe survived the last large drought, the Rhine closed for cargo ships for 132 days, which almost provoked a recession in Germany. At the same time, this year the costs of transporting goods along the river have already increased by five times, and economists calculated that interruptions can reduce the overall economic growth of Germany this year by half a percent.
“We did not fully analyze the event, but, based on my experience, I think that this is possibly even more extremely than in 2018,” as saying The Daily Mail, the words of a senior researcher at the United Research Center of the European Commission Andrea Toreti.