German utility EnBW said on Friday it had enough stocks and rail transport options for the time being to secure coal deliveries from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp port areas while the river Rhine had low water levels.
"There are currently no important limitations on our coal receipts via the Rhine," a spokeswoman said in a written response to questions.
She said EnBW’s coal plants had rail network connections as well as access to barge ports.
On-site coal stocks were well filled, she said.
As a result of dry weather, barges cannot sail fully loaded on some part of the Rhine river, a main artery for dry bulk and energy commodities, because the river is too shallow.
This means surcharges for cargo owners and slow replenishments for just-in-time buyers of finished goods.
* "Low river levels in north-west Europe could ... reduce coal-fired and nuclear generation later this summer, which would provide further support for gas-fired output," analysts at Energy Aspects said in a research note this week.
* EnBW operates some 3,500 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired generation capacity in Germany's southwestern state of Baden Wuerttemberg which borders Switzerland and France, aside from renewable and nuclear energy, from which it produced 13 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity last year.
* As part of the coal infrastructure in north-west Europe, many coal cargoes reach the European inland by rail from Dutch deepwater seaports alternative to river-borne cargoes.
* (Reporting by Vera Eckert