Extreme low water levels on the Rhine and other German waterways are now directly affecting road freight transport. Several German federal states have temporarily relaxed the Sunday and public holiday driving bans for certain trucks.
North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland led the way. Bremen joined on August 10. Baden-Württemberg has also now issued an exemption. Bavaria has announced that it will also permit additional truck operations starting the following weekend.
The background is straightforward: Due to low water levels, many inland vessels can now carry only a portion of their normal cargo. Transports must therefore be partially shifted to rail or road. The additional weekend operations are intended to prevent cargo flows from backing up further or industrial facilities from having to reduce production due to missing raw materials.
However, the exemptions do not apply simply to every transport. In Lower Saxony, for example, the regulation applies to trucks over 7.5 tons and trucks with trailers when the trip is necessary as replacement transport due to low water levels. The regulation there initially applies until August 31.
North Rhine-Westphalia has also limited the exemption initially until the end of August. Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland have provided for longer periods extending to a maximum of the end of September. Bremen has also initially limited its regulation until August 31.
However, this also demonstrates the problem: There is currently no uniform federal regulation. Freight forwarding companies must therefore carefully check which federal states their vehicles travel through and which exemption actually applies there.