Analyst says drought causes Serbian economy problems with water-based transport

Beta/Miloš Timotić

Economy analyst Zarko Galetin said on Wednesday that the Serbian economy could face serious transport problems because of low river water levels caused by the drought.

Galetin, an agriculture industry expert, said that the Rhine-Danube waterway, one of Europe’s main transport routes, is not fully operational at present, adding that barges carrying goods from Serbia to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta are stuck in Bulgaria.

“The Serbian agriculture industry is planning to export 1,000 bargeloads of 1,000 tons each… if that route is amputated we will have a serious problem. Almost half the corn exports and a third of wheat exports go through Constanta as a collection site for the biggest global grain dealers to be shipped across the world. Lose that market and you have a serious problem,” he said.

According to Galetin, the Serbian economy will have to turn to alternative forms of transport such as road and rail.

He said that seven of the past 10 years have seen droughts, causing problems with irrigation.