Low Rhine water threatens to split commercial shipping route as Berlin mourns shooting victim

A homicide investigation is under way after a 30-year-old man was shot dead following a dispute near Berlin’s Zoologischer Garten transport hub, with the alleged attackers fleeing the scene. The incident adds to a rise in firearm-related cases in the capital, which recorded over a thousand incidents last year. Meanwhile, Germany’s inland shipping association cautions that the Rhine’s water level at Kaub is expected to fall into single digits, a threshold that would make continuous navigation impossible and effectively divide the river for commercial traffic.

The low water, caused by prolonged dry weather, has already forced freight vessels to reduce cargo loads, increasing costs for industries reliant on bulk shipments. Excursion vessels and river cruises would also face restrictions, while navigation could continue on sections north of Cologne and on tributaries such as the Neckar, Moselle, Main and Main-Danube Canal.