Today’s Basil Fawlty can take solace in looking across the North Sea to Germany, which is about to be plunged into a rolling crisis that could make Britain look like a veritable oasis by comparison. The Rhine, one of the world’s most powerful rivers and the most critical trade artery for the continent’s largest economy, is on the verge of drying up as Europe bakes in record temperatures and suffers from a lack of rainfall. Obviously, this is the last thing Berlin needs right now. It threatens to cause a full-scale industrial shock in a nation renowned for its manufacturing prowess. Facing a recession and facing the prospect of acute winter energy shortages thanks to Vladimir Putin’s shocking over-reliance on oil and gas, the dry Rhine is something the region’s economic powerhouse cannot afford. Factories, agriculture, municipal buildings, commercial facilities and vital urban amenities, which have already been asked to dim their lights and use less water to save energy, are severely affected. There are also impacts in other parts of Europe, particularly in landlocked central and eastern European countries that usually get their fuel via the Rhine, according to the International Energy Agency. The crunch time came on Friday when water levels in the Kaub, a key choke point west of Frankfurt, fell below the critical 40cm mark. By Monday, they are expected to have shrunk back to 34cm. At such shallow depths, the Rhine essentially becomes little more than a quagmire for ships, making it largely impassable for large barges that carry the lifeblood of the German economy. It will be devastating to trade, disrupting the flow of fuel, chemicals, grain, paper products and other vital raw materials to factories and agriculture from the three major trading ports of Northern Europe – Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp. Analysts estimate that the transportation of 400,000 barrels per day of oil, gasoline, diesel and kerosene will be disrupted.
