Low Water Surcharge: Checking the Tier on a Freight Invoice

A low water surcharge often looks like a routine line on a barge invoice. Under the published Rhine tables, the amount depends on one river gauge, one departure date and the table in force that day, and all three can be looked up after the invoice arrives. In 2026 there has been a lot to look up. Hapag-Lloyd reported the Kaub gauge at 31 cm on 27 July 2026 (Hapag-Lloyd, 27 July 2026), and on 26 September it read −3 cm, the first negative reading on record (TechTimes, 28 September 2026).

Maersk published a revised Rhine low water surcharge table for Benelux barge legs on 12 August 2026, valid until further notice (Maersk, 12 August 2026), and Hapag-Lloyd has announced new tables from 1 November 2026 (Container News, 28 September 2026).

Before you check: low water surcharge rules are specific to the carrier, barge operator or forwarder that bills them, and to your contract. The examples below are dated 2026 Rhine rules from Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and Contargo, not current rates. Check the latest advisory and the terms that apply to your shipment before querying a line.

What is a low water surcharge, and how is it calculated?

A low water surcharge is an additional charge on inland waterway transport when the water level at a reference gauge falls below a set threshold, because barges then carry fewer containers. On invoices it may appear as a low water surcharge, LWS, Kleinwasserzuschlag or a general barge surcharge line. How it is calculated depends on who applies it:

• A carrier tariff, when the carrier arranges the barge leg, as in Maersk's and Hapag-Lloyd's Rhine notices
• A barge operator's terms, such as Contargo's published low water conditions
• A forwarder's pass-through terms, which may follow the carrier's table or the forwarder's own
• Your contract, which decides whether the surcharge is payable at all and which of the above it refers to

The invoice line is checked against whichever of these governs your shipment. The 2026 Rhine tables share a shape: amounts per container that rise in tiers as the gauge falls. Maersk's 12 August 2026 table for the Kaub gauge runs from EUR 45 per 20-foot and EUR 55 per 40-foot laden container below 1.51 m to EUR 1,335 and EUR 1,560 below 0.31 m. Hapag-Lloyd's tables effective 1 November 2026 run from EUR 40 to EUR 1,350 per 20-foot container at Kaub, with lower ranges for the other zones; for levels below its published tables, rates are subject to individual agreement.

The unit differs between tables. Contargo's terms state that its surcharge is charged per container, not per TEU, and only on laden containers (Contargo, low water conditions). Maersk's Kaub table also applies to laden containers, with separate 20-foot and 40-foot amounts. If a line bills a 40-foot container as two TEU, check the basis in the table your invoice refers to.

Which gauge applies to a Rhine low water surcharge?

The gauge depends on the terminal. Hapag-Lloyd's July 2026 notice splits the Rhine into four zones, each with its own reference gauge and a level at or below which it no longer guarantees transport (Hapag-Lloyd, July 2026). Other carriers may define zones differently.

The date that decides the reading is also set by the table. Maersk's advisory uses the barge departure date from the inland terminal for exports and from the deep-sea terminal for imports. Contargo's terms name the reading itself: the level published in the German waterways information system at 5 a.m. CET on the actual day of departure. Hapag-Lloyd's July notice does not state which date applies, so ask the carrier.

The readings are public. PEGELONLINE, run by the German federal waterways administration, shows the last 30 days of gauge readings and offers downloads of older readings back to 2000.

How do you check a low water surcharge on a freight invoice?

You find the terms that govern the charge, fix the departure date, pull the reading for that date and compare the billed tier with the table in force. Five steps:

Worked example. An import 40-foot laden container moves by barge under Maersk's 12 August 2026 table to a terminal in the Kaub zone. The barge load list shows departure from the deep-sea terminal on a day when the Kaub reading was 0.95 m. That reading is below 1.11 m but not below 0.91 m, so the table gives EUR 95. If the invoice shows EUR 150, the line has been billed at the next tier down, and the EUR 55 difference is worth querying with the load list, the saved reading and the table extract. The reading and the invoice amount here are illustrative; the tier amounts are Maersk's.

In the ocean freight invoices audited on our platform from June to August 2026, about a quarter of the spend was for shipments that had moved before April, long enough for a surcharge table to be revised in between.

How do you make a freight overcharge claim when the tier is wrong?

You raise a freight invoice dispute with the evidence from the check, and track it until a credit note arrives and is matched to the shipment. Send the invoice line, the departure date, the saved reading and the table extract, and record the date filed and the claim reference. When the freight credit note arrives, match it to the shipment, so credit note recovery is counted when it is received, not assumed.

These lines are often missed for process reasons. The invoice usually arrives weeks after the barge sailed, the reading and the table are not on it, the table may have been revised in between, and a forwarder's pass-through may follow terms that differ from the carrier's. Where Hapag-Lloyd sets rates by individual agreement below its published tables, record what was agreed, because there is no table to check against later. Check your contract and the carrier's terms for any deadline on disputes, and raise queries while the evidence is easy to collect.

Whether the surcharge is payable at all depends on your contract terms and any tariff incorporated into them. The steps above check only that the amount matches the rules that apply.

A low water line can be checked against a public reading, which makes it a good candidate for a well-evidenced claim. Our Dispute Agent takes a flagged surcharge line, builds the claim with the invoice detail behind it, applies the carrier's claim rules, submits it and tracks it until the credit note is linked back to the shipment. That keeps carrier claim management in one place, from the flagged line to the matched credit note.