Record drought cripples Europe’s vital rivers

Record heat across Europe is draining major waterways, disrupting
transport, squeezing supplies and adding fresh pressure
to economies already strained by an energy shock



RHINE WATER LEVEL
(Measurements in cm, at town of Kaub, Germany)

Range 2021-25

2026

78cm: Low-water threshold for shipping restrictions

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700

Rhine: Ships nearly 300 million tonnes of cargo per year

Danube: Handled 62.7 million tonnes in 2025

Cernavodă NPP: One reactor forced offline. Authorities scramble to keep Romania’s only other one running

Rhine: Low water has halted some shipping and forced lighter loads, raising transport costs

Paks NPP: Hungary’s sole nuclear plant, source of 40% of country’s power, shuts down for first time

Key plants exposed to low river levels
Refinery
Steel plant
Steam cracker
Nuclear Power
Plant (NPP)

UKRAINE
ITALY
FRANCE
DENMARK
CZECH REP.
POLAND
ROMANIA
BULGARIA
SERBIA
SLOVAKIA
HUNGARY
AUSTRIA
GERMANY
BELGIUM
NETHERLANDS
SWITZ.
Cologne
Dortmund
Stuttgart
Mannheim
Kozloduy NPP
Regensburg
Duisburg
Frankfurt
Strasbourg
Basel
Rotterdam
Antwerp
Bucharest
Belgrade
Vienna
Budapest
Bratislava
Kaub

100km
60 miles

Sources: S&P Global. Reuters
© GRAPHIC NEWS