Hitze: Niedrigwasser am Rhein: Forderung nach Taskforce

In response to the low water levels on the Rhine, North Rhine-Westphalia's Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Green) has called for the formation of a national taskforce to quickly decide on concrete measures. These include additional storage capacity for hazardous goods at ports, increased railway capacity, and determining "how priorities can be set for what should be transported," Krischer stated in the ZDF-"Morgenmagazin."

This approach proved effective in 2018, he added, noting that "it won't wipe out the problem entirely, but it can help improve the situation in many places."

Krischer believes such a taskforce should consist of experts from the logistics industry, municipalities, state governments, and the federal government. Unlike in 2018, the low water on the Rhine is occurring much earlier this year: "In 2018, we only faced it in late summer, in the fall, but now it's already in the high summer. We will probably have to deal with this situation for several weeks and months," he said.

Krischer emphasized the need to expand the Rhein-Fahrrinne in the medium term. "That's completely right and necessary," he said in the "Morgenmagazin." Concrete planning for this has existed for many years, with one section already having a plan in place: "You could start construction tomorrow there. Unfortunately, the federal money is missing."