Neglected, decaying Kiel Canal wreaks havoc with Baltic box schedules
LOCK repairs and shutdowns are "wreaking havoc" to schedules as passage is restricted to 700-TEU feeders from the usual 800- to 1,700-TEUers that transit the Kiel Canal below Denmark from the North Sea to the Baltic through the German province of Schleswig-Holstein.
While the historic 98-kilometre Kiel Canal saves 460 kilometres by avoiding circumnavigation of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula to the Baltic, transits are now 15 hours, up from the usual eight to 10.
The Brunsbuttel branch of the German waterways authority announced that three out of the Kiel Canal's four locks on the North Sea side are out of service for emergency repairs and maintenance, reports Alphaliner.
Ships longer than 125 metres must navigate via Skagerrak, a 450 kilometre detour. According to the canal's website, it is the busiest artificial waterway in the world with more than 43,000 vessels passing through in 2007, excluding small craft.
Both of the two large locks at the Brunsbuttel North Sea Terminus will be out of service, as will be one of the two smaller locks. Only a smaller lock remains operational in Brunsbuttel, which can accommodate 125-metre vessels, 20.5 metres abeam with a maximum 6.5 metres draft.
"This unscheduled downtime will have major implications on traffic in the canal and it will wreak havoc in the schedules of container feeder services covering the Baltic," said Alphaliner.
Hamburg and Bremerhaven, two key ports for Baltic feeders, have been complaining for years that the Kiel Canal's poor level of service and operational reliability was unacceptable.
"This however did not stop the German government from postponing planned renovation works further and further," said Alphaliner.
The German waterways authority said that one of the two small locks should be available again soon, whereas it expects the two main locks to remain inoperable until late March.
To meet German naval needs, the canal was widened to accommodate Dreadnought battleships between 1907-1914. The first connection between the North Sea and the Baltic was built 1784 and was 43 kilometres long, 29 metres wide and three metres deep, and part of a 175-kilometre long waterway. The biggest ship to transit was the 74,000-dwt Ever Leader.
LOCK repairs and shutdowns are "wreaking havoc" to schedules as passage is restricted to 700-TEU feeders from the usual 800- to 1,700-TEUers that transit the Kiel Canal below Denmark from the North Sea to the Baltic through the German province of Schleswig-Holstein.
While the historic 98-kilometre Kiel Canal saves 460 kilometres by avoiding circumnavigation of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula to the Baltic, transits are now 15 hours, up from the usual eight to 10.
The Brunsbuttel branch of the German waterways authority announced that three out of the Kiel Canal's four locks on the North Sea side are out of service for emergency repairs and maintenance, reports Alphaliner.
Ships longer than 125 metres must navigate via Skagerrak, a 450 kilometre detour. According to the canal's website, it is the busiest artificial waterway in the world with more than 43,000 vessels passing through in 2007, excluding small craft.
Both of the two large locks at the Brunsbuttel North Sea Terminus will be out of service, as will be one of the two smaller locks. Only a smaller lock remains operational in Brunsbuttel, which can accommodate 125-metre vessels, 20.5 metres abeam with a maximum 6.5 metres draft.
"This unscheduled downtime will have major implications on traffic in the canal and it will wreak havoc in the schedules of container feeder services covering the Baltic," said Alphaliner.
Hamburg and Bremerhaven, two key ports for Baltic feeders, have been complaining for years that the Kiel Canal's poor level of service and operational reliability was unacceptable.
"This however did not stop the German government from postponing planned renovation works further and further," said Alphaliner.
The German waterways authority said that one of the two small locks should be available again soon, whereas it expects the two main locks to remain inoperable until late March.
To meet German naval needs, the canal was widened to accommodate Dreadnought battleships between 1907-1914. The first connection between the North Sea and the Baltic was built 1784 and was 43 kilometres long, 29 metres wide and three metres deep, and part of a 175-kilometre long waterway. The biggest ship to transit was the 74,000-dwt Ever Leader.