Low water leaves river cruise ships stranded in Vienna

Low water levels on the Danube have left 23 river cruise ships in Vienna, with vessels staying in port considerably longer than usual, ORF reported. The low levels are linked to a lack of rainfall and high temperatures.

The situation is not unusual for the summer season, Wien Holding told the Austrian Press Agency. Around Vienna’s Reichsbrücke bridge, 12 berths operated by Donauraum Wien, a Wien Holding company, are available for passenger ships.

Most of the berths can accommodate cabin ships three deep, allowing a maximum of 27 large vessels. For many passenger ships, Vienna is currently the end of the journey because water levels make onward travel to the east impossible. Ships unable to reach Vienna are being replaced by vessels that cannot leave the city.

No official closure of the Danube to shipping is planned because of the low water, according to viadonau. The Mobility Ministry is responsible for such a decision, although closures have so far only been imposed during floods.

Ships can currently travel without problems from Passau to Melk, but navigation becomes more difficult from the Wachau onward. DDSG is operating a reduced schedule in the Wachau, and a day trip from Vienna to Bratislava planned for Friday has been cancelled.

Viadonau said the current situation could be compared with the historic low-water levels of 2018. Transport volumes fell by 25.1 percent compared with 2017. The amount of goods carried on the Austrian Danube dropped from 9.6 million tonnes to 2.2 million tonnes. In 2024, the latest year for which figures are available, 6.6 million tonnes were transported.

The low water is also creating challenges for logistics. Goods can be divided among several ships to reduce their draught, while some freight is transferred to rail or road. In 2024, transport in the Austrian Danube corridor was split between road at 65 percent, rail at 28 percent and water at 7 percent.

That balance could shift temporarily, but viadonau said not all goods could be moved to other forms of transport, or could only be moved with difficulty using special transports. Some goods carried by ship are not time-sensitive, allowing their transport to be delayed.

Viadonau said the entire European Danube region had to be considered, as freight shipping was generally worthwhile only when the entire river was open. Larger problems were reported in Romania and Hungary. In 2024, cross-border traffic accounted for 94.1 percent of the total transport volume on the Austrian Danube, while 5.9 percent was shipped within Austria. The average distance travelled by a tonne of goods was 946 kilometres.