While there is much talk of maritime choke points on world shipping lanes, Germany is suffering one in its own back yard which could have been mitigated had the government implemented the infrastructure policy promoted years ago by the Schiller Institute. The choke point is located in the Middle Rhine between the cities of Bingen and Koblenz, one of the most important river shipping arteries in Europe.
The current drought threatens to block shipping on the Rhine. Water levels over this hundred-kilometer stretch of the Rhine are at dangerously shallow levels, forcing ships to reduce their cargo by as much as 80 percent. The levels threaten to sink to the point where ships can no longer pass. The potentially huge damage to the economy of the region could have been mitigated by transferring cargos to railways, which is no longer possible, because the rail line on the right bank of the Rhine is completely closed and undergoing extensive renovation.
