The drought is effectively splitting this key piece of infrastructure into two halves between Cologne and Frankfurt. Inland shipping costs have surged, and companies are scrambling to find alternative transport for resources and finished product. Higher shipping costs and possible disruptions of key supplies add to high energy costs and other headwinds facing German industry. That’s a problem for Brussels’ strive to regain strategic autonomy – and a physical challenge for European plans to revive key industries and build new ones on European soil. In markets, the joint Japanese-US intervention in the JPY exchange rate is starting to lose its grip on the currency.