“Our ferries can operate until the water level in Bonn is just under a metre,” said Jan Brune from Lux-Werft, when asked by the General Anzeiger on Tuesday. The company runs the ferry between Bad Godesberg and Niederdollendorf. Their regular passengers can remain calm: on Tuesday afternoon the level of the Rhine in Bonn was still 1.38 metres. Although much lower than record levels of over ten metres during some once-in-a-century high tides, it is high enough for the Godesberg ferry.

It is a different story between Wesseling and Niederkassel. The “Marienfels” ferry is not running as it needs a water level of at least 1.5 metres.

The significantly heavier and wider freight cargo barges are severely affected. Florian Krekel from the Water and Shipping Authority in Bingen said no cargo ships could travel fully loaded at the moment. In a serious incident on the Middle Rhine last weekend, a cargo ship loaded with 800 tonnes of nitric acid ran aground near Oberwesel. Water protection police said the low water levels had not caused the incident but they did hinder the several hour long attempt to free the freighter. In the end it was stuck for 12 hours.

The low water levels in the Rhine in October are not unusual, as a look back at last year shows: in November 2015 the Rhine had a record-breaking low level of 1.17 metres. But even this water level is not the real record. The lowest recorded Rhine level was 90 centimetres on 29 September 2003, a year remembered for its hot summer.

There is little rain forecast for the next few days. How far the water levels in Bonn will still sink and whether there will be a record low level in November remains to be seen.

(Original text: Rüdiger Franz; translated by Kate Carey)