A lack of fuel from Russia has seen Eastern Germany
resort to using barge-loads of fuel from as far away as the North Sea oil port
of Rotterdam as the nation pivots away from Russian supplies.
Fuels used to help make petrol are being sent from Rotterdam
along the River Rhine and then into Germany’s network of canals, with some of
the fuel travelling as far as Berlin. A 500 mile week-long inland sail would
previously have been rare because of the distance and cost involved, but
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the distribution of grains from
Ukraine and energy-distribution in Germany.
There have also been barge shipments of diesel from
Rotterdam to storage in east Germany in recent weeks, partly because seaborne
deliveries would previously have come from Russia via Hamburg. Those supplies
look to have stopped.
Canals and waterways connects the Rhine to Amsterdam,
Rotterdam and Antwerp, leading on to a large part of Germany, and even further,
with theoretical barge routes available to Switzerland, Austria, and through to
the Black Sea.
German authorities were reported to be considering the
viability of increasing shipments of fuel by barge to Berlin and Magdeburg, a
storage hub west of the German capital.
Unfortunately the increased popularity of the concept of
transporting fuel along the Rhine has coincided with the river having the
lowest water clearance levels at the key navigation point of Kaub since at
least 2007, according to German federal data. Barges, already limited to less
than full capacity because of the shallowness of the fraught, might be
restricted to even less if the river dries out further over the next few
months. Europe needs rain.
