The European Shippers’ Council (ESC) has called on the European Commission to establish a European Inland Waterway & Supply Chain Low-Water Resilience Mechanism for 2026–2030. The proposal brings together transport, infrastructure, industrial resilience and State aid policy.
Increasingly severe periods of low water expose a structural vulnerability in European supply chains. When navigable depth falls, vessels carry less cargo, costs rise, terminals face extra handling, and companies are forced to switch modes, build larger stocks or reorganise logistics. The impact goes far beyond inland navigation and affects industry, energy flows, food and raw-material supply, and regional economies.
ESC’s central principle is simple: European policy should protect the movement of goods, not only the vessel carrying them.
The proposed mechanism rests on three pillars:
-Support for transport operators to adapt fleets and operations
-Investment in climate-resilient waterways, ports, terminals and multimodal connections
-Targeted support for shippers facing objectively verifiable extra logistics costs during exceptional low-water periods
This support must not compensate normal commercial risk or lost turnover. It should cover only exceptional costs directly caused by severe low water — such as temporary shifts to rail or multimodal transport, additional transhipment, temporary storage, and investments that make industrial sites more resilient.
ESC also calls for dual-access industrial sites that can use both inland navigation and rail, and for a clear escalation model linked to transparent hydrological thresholds (low-water risk, severe low water, and exceptional conditions).
The Commission is asked to develop a common European framework, clarify how existing State aid rules can support logistics users, set principles to prevent overcompensation, and launch pilot projects in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt, Seine–Scheldt, Rhône–Saône and Danube corridors.
“Low water is no longer solely a problem for inland navigation. It is a risk to European industry, energy and goods flows, food and raw-material supply, regional economies and the Single Market,” said Godfried Smit, Secretary General of ESC.
“Europe must move from ad-hoc crisis interventions to a predictable system of prevention, adaptation and targeted emergency support — so that European goods keep moving even when the rivers cannot operate at normal capacity.”