The drought is persisting in Germany and this has left the Rhine river with very low water levels. As a result, BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) is reaching its limits – see Plasteurope.com of 13.08.2018. The company handles about 40% of the transport for its main plant in Ludwigshafen via inland waterways. While in August there was talk of a "partial curtailment of production" and "occasional delivery bottlenecks," the group now says several plants had to be shut down.

A company spokesperson did not reveal to Plasteurope.com which plastic products are affected. However, information provided by the force majeure declarations on several PVC plasticisers points to the company's raw material supply no longer being guaranteed. The affected grades are "Palatinol N" and "Palatinol 10-P", "Hexamoll" DINCH and "Plastomoll" DOA.

BASF currently processes stocks of raw materials, but these inventories are apparently largely depleted now. The bottlenecks, both in the supply of raw materials and to customers, are estimated to last at least until the end of October depending on the weather conditions. Inland shipping by barge can be taken over by other means of transport, but only partially.