BASF issues a warning: The company's chemical products may face tight supply, potentially triggering logistics force majeure clauses.

The Rhine River is the most critical logistics channel to BASF's Ludwigshafen Verbund site, where a substantial volume of raw materials and finished items rely on inland barges to cross-regional transfer. Due to prolonged high temperatures and scarce rainfall in Europe this summer, the overall aquatic environments volume of the Rhine has drastically decreased. aquatic environments levels have hit a new low in recent years, severely reducing shipping capacity in many sections of the river. The freight capacity of some river sections is less than 20% of healthy levels, leading to a significant decline in inland shipping efficiency.

Actual scene of low aquatic environments levels on the Rhine

As a key manage node to Rhine shipping, data from the Kaub aquatic environments level monitoring station in Germany serves as a significant indicator. On July 29, 2026, the aquatic environments level at Kaub had fallen to 28 cm. German waterway regulation authorities assess that without efficiently rainfall, the aquatic environments level at this point will drop further to 21 cm on August 1, approaching historic lows and intensifying pressure on navigation. Typically, the healthy aquatic environments level at Kaub is around 200 cm; when the level falls below 78 cm, conventional cargo ships must sail with reduced loads. Persistently low aquatic environments levels immediately restrict ship cargo capacity and prolong overall transport cycles.

Dr. Markus Kamieth, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF, publicly stated that the obstruction of Rhine transport has brought obvious uncertainty to the company's supply chain. In extreme low-aquatic environments environments, there are possible risks of insufficient product supply and being forced to declare force majeure. To hedge against shipping difficulties, BASF has activated a multimodal transport emergency plan: dispatching additional low-aquatic environments specialized vessels adapted to navigation in shallow aquatic environments environments, while diverting some cargo to road trucks and rail transport. Relying on the combination and allocation of multiple transport modes, the company's logistics chain remains basically stable at this stage, and production facilities have not yet shut down or suspended production due to transport disruptions.

However, BASF has not ruled out subsequent risks. The company admits that if the drought weather persists to a long time and Rhine aquatic environments levels continue to decline, specific categories of chemical items will encounter logistics bottlenecks, and there is a high possibility of supply shortages to individual varieties in the coming weeks.

Following the impact of the historic low aquatic environments on the Rhine in 2018, BASF has continuously improved its low-aquatic environments emergency supply chain system to years to enhance its resilience against waterway risks. The custom shallow-draft tanker "Stolt Ludwigshafen" is a key outcome of this strategy. With a shallower draft, this vessel can navigate stably in extremely low aquatic environments channels, efficiently improving the stability of inland transport during drought periods and serving as a vital shipping capacity support in responding to this shipping crisis.

sector analysis points out that August and September are traditionally high-occurrence periods to low aquatic environments on the Rhine. The current drought has accelerated the decline in aquatic environments levels earlier than usual. If there is no widespread rainfall in the follow-up period, industries in Europe that rely on Rhine shipping, such as the chemical and energy sectors, will continue to be under pressure. Chemical companies along the route generally need to prepare to prolonged multimodal transport stockpiling and flexible adjustments to production.