Even though the water levels of the Rhine and Elbe are slowly starting to rise, the financial health of the system for German waterways remains stagnant. According to a draft position paper prepared for the Rhine Länder Conference in Wiesbaden, published by “Spiegel”, there is a “significant discrepancy between the actual investment required and the funds made available in the budget,” given an annual financial requirement of at least 2.5 billion euros.
The paper was signed by the Rhine-border federal states of Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Hesse, alongside the “System Wasserstraße” initiative. This initiative is a coalition of 22 industry associations, including groups from the maritime commerce, ports, transport and logistics sector, industrial shippers, and planning and construction industries.
The signatories insist that the Federal Government, as the owner of the waterways, is responsible for their maintenance, modernization, and expansion. While they acknowledge that the recent allocation of funds from the Special Fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality is a “sensible first step,” they maintain that the system remains severely underfunded.
The paper notes that the low water levels on the Rhine, caused by the recent dry summer, sharply restricted shipping traffic. The groups stress that climate change is increasingly affecting the waterway system. They argue that adapting the fleet and navigation capabilities to meet these changing hydrological conditions is absolutely crucial, necessitating additional funding not only to strengthen critical port infrastructure but also to renovate locks and weirs.
Inland shipping operators feel that their sector is being neglected in favor of road and rail transport, which are often the focus of political debate. According to the document, the system’s capacity is of “national strategic importance” for German industry and securing employment. For example, the world’s largest inland port in Duisburg supports around 52,000 jobs. Additional industrial employment is concentrated in the chemical centers of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen (33,500 jobs combined), the Neckar region (97,000 jobs), and the Mosel-Saar region (19,000 jobs). To oversee the implementation of the required reforms, the signatories propose establishing a committee that would report regularly on progress.
