German rivers dry up as ministers split on response

Low water levels on Germany's rivers have opened a dispute inside the government over whether to engineer waterways for shipping or restore them to hold more water in the landscape.

A heat wave has exposed sandbanks on the Rhine, Danube, Elbe and other rivers, disrupting cargo shipping that many industries use. Transport Minister Steffen Bilger recently met shipping, port and logistics operators and announced a temporary lifting of Sunday and public holiday truck transport bans to help ease bottlenecks.

Bilger, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, said Germany needed deeper navigation channels and new low-draft ships. He said environmental protection would remain in mind while expansion projects moved forward.

Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, from the centre-left SPD, argued instead for restoring rivers after centuries of straightening and commercial use. He called for more natural rivers with meanders, branches and floodplains that retain water.

Environmental groups opposed more dredging. Beatrice Claus of WWF said deepening and straightening rivers causes water to drain faster toward the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Olaf Bandt, head of BUND, said dredging gives only an illusion of action.

Thomas Puls of the German Economic Institute told Der Spiegel that lifting truck restrictions was unlikely to make much difference because at least 150 trucks are needed to replace one inland waterway vessel. Greens leader Felix Banaszak accused the government of focusing on shipping fixes instead of climate protection.