Once mighty river reduced to a trickle

Kaub, Germany: Just after sunrise, Captain Frank Sep turned to his ship's radio for the defining news of his day: the water level in Kaub, the shallowest part of the middle section of the Rhine River, Germany's most important shipping route.

A freighter and ferry pass near rocks 

visible on the Rhine in Boppard, Germany.

CREDIT:

The news was bad, as it so often is these days.

One of the longest dry spells on record has left parts of the Rhine at record-low levels for months, forcing freighters to reduce their cargo or stop plying the river altogether.

Parts of the Danube and the Elbe — Germany's other major rivers for transport — are also drying up. Some inland ports are idle, and it is estimated that millions of tons of goods are having to be transported by rail or road.

Read the story from The Age by Christopher Schuetze - “Once mighty river reduced to a trickle.”