On 19 October 2026 EUWID Recycling reported that the general ferrous markup German recyclers had expected for October did not arrive. Domestic mills and works in neighbouring countries mostly left purchase prices at September levels. Only early fixtures still paid a few euros more. Recyclers and steelmakers named the same cause: they still cannot move metal. Extreme low water on the rivers, and a shortage of extra space on rail and road, has left yards full and damped demand for new tonnes. EUWID’s respondents said they no longer see a market revival this year.

That reading follows EUWID’s 22 September German ferrous survey, which had found a September rollover and a cautious October markup tied to Turkish export demand. The October book is still a rollover. Sold tonnes are sitting because they cannot leave the yard.

Kaub went below the zero mark

EUWID said Rhine levels remain historically low and that the Kaub gauge, the commercial choke on the Middle Rhine, fell below the zero mark in late September. Southern Rhine shipping is effectively cut off. Even on stretches that are still navigable, high freight rates often make water transport uneconomic.

The Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung, carried by SWR and tagesschau on 27 September, put Kaub at minus 1 centimetre at midday on 26 September and minus 2 centimetres at times on 27 September, after 4 centimetres on 25 September. Baird Maritime, also using WSV data, then recorded a zero-centimetre print and a rebound to 5 centimetres early on 29 September. A zero reading is a gauge against a fixed reference. The fairway still holds more than a metre of water, which is enough to cut payload to a fraction of a normal barge.

The Loadstar on 15 October reported barges around Duisburg-Ruhrort operating at roughly two-thirds of normal capacity, while services further upstream on the Kaub gauge were severely restricted. Alternative rail in the Rhine-Main area was booked for weeks. The same report put replacement-capacity shortfalls at 15 to 30 percent of the displaced cargo and called the disruption one of the most serious since 2018, with the strongest effects in southern Germany, Switzerland and the Upper Rhine. The Port of Rotterdam told The Loadstar that the seaport itself remained operational and that the effects were inland.

EUROMETAL, citing Kallanish on 9 October, reported the Bundesamt für Gewässerkunde warning that September had undercut August record lows at some Rhine locations and that lasting relief was not in sight in the first half of October. thyssenkrupp Steel said its own barge fleet remained suspended and that it was chartering shallower third-party vessels to keep supplying customers. That statement covers ore, coal and finished steel on the same corridor scrap uses. See Rhine low water and scrap logistics and the IREPAS Belgrade briefing.

Road and rail are not absorbing the tonnes

The Federal Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Recycling (bvse), summarised by GMK Center, still described Rhine shipping as critical. Some steelworks and scrap suppliers are effectively cut off from water transport, and one works had to adjust production. Rail, bvse said, is chaotic and losing competitiveness: local road moves around 5 to 10 euros a tonne while rail tariffs run around 30 euros a tonne.

Those figures are freight, not a scrap grade list. They explain why a sold E3 or HMS parcel can sit. Recyclers told EUWID that missing extra wagon and truck space is now as binding as draft. The Circular Metal Association’s summer wagon survey, already covered with the September rollover, had found that most members could not fulfil delivery contracts in full because empties arrived late, incomplete or not at all. At the MBI Stahltag, bvse said most diverted scrap had gone to truck.

bvse also noted a slower arising of higher-quality new scrap as car production and metalworking leave Germany, including the shift of some vehicle manufacturing to Hungary. Extra new-scrap tightness did not produce an October squeeze, because the tonnes already in the yards still cannot reach the melt cheaply. The association put October German and neighbouring moves in a range of about 5 to 15 euros a tonne depending on region, grade and timing, after a stronger lift at the start of the month failed to hold. That range is a monthly reading, not a walk-in list.

Lang Recycling’s 15 October purchase of the Karlsruhe Rhine-port yard is one firm’s answer to that delivery problem. It does not change mill melt this week. See freight and collection costs.

Who it affects among yards, traders, mills and processors

Yards that usually load barges above Kaub, or on the Upper Rhine, should treat a sold parcel as undelivered until the mode is confirmed. Write whether the move is a light barge, a confirmed wagon or a truck, and what that does to the delivered number. A full-barge programme that assumes a summer draft will miss.

Traders stemming inland German scrap toward Ruhr mills, or toward Rotterdam and Antwerp for Turkey, are writing two books. The seaport can still load when the inland yard cannot. Who buys European scrap still starts with Turkish electric-arc works for the seaborne surplus, and BIR’s October ferrous note already recorded Turkish mills buying just-in-time as lending costs stay high. Do not price a delayed inland E3 or E40 lot off a CFR Iskenderun HMS 80/20 indication.

Mills in Germany and neighbouring countries that held October purchase prices at September levels are paying for metal they can actually receive. Ask the load week and the mode before treating a purchase as next week’s charge. Processors that shear or fragmentise for a barge berth still have work; the bottleneck is the berth, not the shear.

How to name the lot

Name the grade the melt already uses. German and other EU works often write E3 or E1 for heavier melting or demolition steel and E40 for fragmentiser steel. If the buyer works in export language, write HMS 1&2 80/20 or shredded 211 and say so. Do not invent a copper cap or a thickness you have not measured.

State tonnes, packing, city or load point, and whether the move is barge, rail, truck or a mix. If Rhine draft has cut the barge, say what payload is left. If the rail path needs an empty wagon, say whether that wagon is confirmed. Ex-works southwest German yard, delivered Ruhr melt and FOB Rotterdam are different offers.

Verified companies can place the parcel on live lots or post a wanted enquiry. Request access if you sell German ferrous or buy for a domestic melt or an export programme.