Near the Konrad-Adenauer Bridge, which connects Ludwigshafen to Mannheim, on the border between Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, the Rhine is 250 meters wide. The place is impregnable to observe the ballet of barges which transport various cargoes on this river highway in the heart of Europe: coal, local or imported, ores, hydrocarbons, gravel, cement, chemicals, steel and agricultural, manufactured goods. Many boats deliver to the gigantic surrounding factories: Mannheim-Ludwigshafen, at the confluence of the Neckar, is a major hub of German chemistry, headquarters of the giant BASF, essential for special chemical compounds intended for automobiles, electronics, to agrochemicals and the agri-food industry.
The Rhine, because it has allowed, for a century and a half, easy and cheap transport, is the powerful link of the immense industrial valley which extends from Basel, in Switzerland, to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, where specialties that consume a lot of energy, in particular chemistry and metal, have been established since their origins. He made Duisburg, in the heart of the coal and steel Ruhr, the first river port in Europe. It passes through Cologne, Leverkusen and Düsseldorf, major production sites for plastics and polymers, glass and pharmaceuticals.
Of course, these specialties can be found elsewhere in the country. But nowhere is a river so closely linked to heavy industry and German identity. So much so that the economic organization of the country, characterized in particular by strong collaboration between social partners and limited intervention by the State, has sometimes been nicknamed the “Rhine model”.
“A massive crisis”
Is this the reason why a dull panic has descended on the country since several big names in the Rhine valley announced site closures, heavily affected by the rise in energy prices? In recent months, chemists BASF, Lanxess (Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia) and Evonik (Essen) have announced major restructurings and renounced investments in Germany, preferring the United States or China. In September, the Covestro group (Leverkusen) entered into negotiations to sell itself to a Gulf oil group, Abu Dhabi National Oil.
Chemistry has seen its competitiveness collapse since the start of the war in Ukraine. In eighteen months, its production fell by more than 20%. This is the sector that consumes the most gas, the one where energy accounts for the most in added value. “We are witnessing a massive crisis, the fall is twice as strong as during the Covid-19 crisis”, recalls Hubertus Bardt, energy expert at the Cologne Economic Institute. The sector estimates that turnover in 2023 could decline by 14%.
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