Covestro Declares Force Majeure at Dormagen as Record Low Rhine Cuts Polyol Feedstock

Covestro has declared force majeure on polyether polyols produced at its Dormagen site in western Germany after record low water levels on the Rhine cut off reliable deliveries of propylene oxide, the key raw material for the plant. The declaration was issued to customers in the first week of August 2026 and was publicly confirmed by the company on August 11, 2026. It remains in force as of August 17, 2026.

The Dormagen unit can only receive propylene oxide by barge because of the technical setup of the site, with no pipeline or large scale terminal alternative available for that feedstock. With the Rhine running at exceptional lows, vessels have been sailing only partly loaded and some sailings have not been bookable at all, so the volumes arriving at the plant have fallen well short of what the polyol lines need. Covestro told customers that the shortfall cannot be covered in the short term by transfers from other sites or by purchases from third parties, which means delivery delays, reduced allocations and outright interruptions on the affected grades. The product families concerned include the Acclaim, Arcol, Desmophen, Baydur, Bayfill, Bayfit, Bayflex, Baymer and Baytherm ranges.

The cause is a drought that has been building since the spring. Low winter snowfall in the Alps, rainfall well below average since March and a succession of heat waves have drained the Rhine catchment. At Kaub, the shallowest point of the middle Rhine and the reference gauge used by barge operators to decide loading, readings collapsed through the summer. The gauge was around 106 cm in late June, near 40 cm in mid July, and had fallen to roughly 16 to 17 cm on August 10 and 11. By August 14 the reading was near 10 cm, below the previous record of 25 cm set in October 2018 and the lowest since measurements began in 1880. A level of 78 cm is the threshold below which most barges must already lighten their loads, so the current readings leave vessels sailing a small fraction of capacity.

Covestro is responding by chartering more vessels to compensate for lighter loads and by shifting volumes to road and rail wherever the logistics allow. The company has been clear that these measures cannot fully replace barge capacity, since a single inland tanker carries what dozens of trucks would need to move. That constraint is why the force majeure was necessary despite the mitigation effort.

The disruption extends well beyond one producer. The port of Duisburg has reported vessel loading capacities down to about a third of normal levels. Agricultural trader RWZ said its shipments from the terminals at Worms and Andernach in July and August reached less than ten percent of the 50,000 tonnes or more it usually moves in that window. Evonik has described major challenges for its logistics and has moved part of its freight to rail and road. Utility EnBW, which brings coal up the river from Rotterdam, estimated on August 7 that the low water situation would cut its earnings by a low double digit million euro figure. Thyssenkrupp, BASF and Lanxess have all had to adapt their inbound and outbound flows.

For buyers of polyether polyols, the practical effect is tighter availability in Europe during the third quarter. Polyols are combined with isocyanates to make flexible and rigid polyurethane foam, which goes into mattresses, upholstered furniture, car seating, refrigerator panels and building insulation. European foam producers are now facing longer lead times and are looking at imported material or at reformulating around the grades that remain available. Because Europe is a significant exporter of these products, the shortfall can also tilt global trade flows and pull tonnes away from other regions.

The outlook depends entirely on the weather. Forecasters say several weeks of sustained rain across the Alpine and upper Rhine catchments would be needed to return the river to workable levels, and Commerzbank has said a noticeable rise is unlikely before October. If levels stay critically low into mid September, the bank estimates the drag on German gross domestic product this quarter at around 0.35 percentage point. The head of the German inland shipping association has called 2026 a possible once in a century event, and the new transport minister met industry and port executives in Bonn on August 6 to discuss emergency measures, including faster deepening work on the middle and lower Rhine. Covestro has given no date for lifting the force majeure and the situation is being reassessed as gauge readings change.