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After rain, Rhine River shipping in Germany returns to normal.

Commodity traders reported on Tuesday that rains in the past few days have raised the water level on all of Germany's river Rhine to normal levels, allowing ships to sail full load.

A heatwave and dry weather in June and Juli made the river too shallow to allow vessels to sail with their full cargo. Ship operators increased freight rates in order to compensate for ships sailing partially empty. This resulted in higher costs for cargo owners.

The rain in the past few days has raised the levels of water on northern river sections that were hindered by low levels, such as around Duisburg or Cologne.

Over the weekend, rain had brought other sections of river to normal levels, including the chokepoint in Kaub.

It was not as expected that the impact of the heatwave would be greater than anticipated, since the fields are particularly dry and drain into small streams and rivers feeding the Rhine.

The Rhine is a major shipping route for grains, minerals and ores, chemicals, oil products including heating oil, as well as coal, chemicals, and ores.

German companies were faced with production and supply problems in the summer of 2022, after a drought caused unusually low levels of water on the Rhine. (Reporting and editing by Alexandra Hudson, Michael Hogan)

(source: Reuters)