Danube expansion vs. Rhine fleet renewal: two strategies for low water

As river levels drop, Bavaria invests €625 million in Danube deepening while HGK pushes for €12.5 billion to build 1,000 shallow-draft ships.

This article was drafted with AI assistance from multiple sources and was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication.

Germany's inland waterways are facing a dual challenge: record low water levels and aging fleets. Two very different responses are emerging. In Bavaria, the state is pushing ahead with a major engineering project on the Danube, while on the Rhine, a major shipping company is calling for a massive investment in new, shallower vessels.

The Danube project, between Deggendorf and Vilshofen, has secured its planning approval, a key milestone. The €625 million scheme, priced at July 2024 levels, aims to increase the navigable depth by 20 centimeters during low water, which translates to about 200 tonnes of extra cargo per typical freighter. The approval was issued on 22 April 2026 and has been publicly available since 18 May. Construction is scheduled to start in autumn 2026, with dike work following in spring 2027.

Bavaria's transport minister, Christian Bernreiter, is urging rapid implementation of the river engineering measures. However, he conceded that vessels with shallower drafts will also be necessary to cope with extreme conditions.

The project's budget is split into three main areas: 105 million euros for waterway construction, 350 million for flood protection, and 170 million for ecological compensation. The engineering work includes 41 new groynes and modifications to 78 existing ones, plus six new and five adjusted parallel structures and seven bank reinforcements. The riverbed will be lowered over 52.6 hectares, requiring the removal of 139,000 cubic meters of material, and nearly 30 hectares will be secured to protect the riverbed. No new dams are planned.

The planning process, which began in 2018, involved handling around 300 objections. On already expanded sections between Straubing and Deggendorf, a draft of 2.50 meters is available on about 200 days per year.

Flood protection measures include 16.5 kilometers of new dikes, 13.5 kilometers of dike upgrades, four new or rebuilt pumping stations, one pumping point, and three large flood channels. Additionally, about 18 kilometers of dikes will be relocated or removed, creating a new retention volume of about 28 million cubic meters. The project aims to protect against a 100-year flood.

Meanwhile, on the Rhine, the Cologne-based shipping company HGK is advocating a different strategy. It is calling for a state-subsidized program to build 1,000 new shallow-draft vessels across Europe by 2035, with investments up to 12.5 billion euros (14.4 billion U.S. dollars). The company points to the water level at Kaub on the Middle Rhine, which dropped to 16 centimeters on 11 August 2026, severely limiting cargo loads.

HGK's own vessel, Synthese 18, which is optimized for shallow water, managed to transport 485 tonnes under extreme conditions, demonstrating the potential of such designs. The Rhine fleet comprises around 7,800 dry and liquid cargo ships, with about 80% of the dry cargo tonnage built in the last century. In 2024, only 13 new dry cargo vessels and 38 tankers were commissioned.

HGK is also pushing for an expansion of an existing 125 million euro support program for green inland shipping, with support of up to 40% for fleet renewal, especially for smaller operators. The company has been developing shallow-draft vessels with customers since 2018 through its Shipping Design Centre, and it operates a fleet of around 300 inland vessels, transporting dry cargo, chemicals, liquid gases, and breakbulk.