SINGAPORE—Low water levels on the Rhine river have caused a fuel supply deficit in parts of Europe’s industrial heartlands that is sucking up cargoes from more than 10,000 kilometers away in Singapore.
Following a long, scorching summer, water levels on the Rhine—a key commodity shipping lane connecting industrial centers in Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands to major seaports—fell to record lows, limiting the transport of coal, steel, grains and fuel.
