Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal)

The North Baltic Sea Canal (NOK; international name Kiel Canal, in Germany until 1948 Kaiser Wilhelm Canal) connects the North Sea (Elbe estuary) with the Baltic Sea (Kiel Fjord). The foundation stone was laid in 1887 and the small double lock at Brunsbüttel and Holtenau was opened in 1895. The large double locks in Brunsbüttel and Holtenau were opened in 1914. The Kiel Canal is a federal waterway and the busiest artificial sea shipping route in the world. Almost 30,000 (2021: 27,293, 2020: 25,247, 2019: 28,797, 2018: 30,009) ships pass through the canal every year.
Over its length of 98 kilometers, it crosses the state of Schleswig-Holstein between Brunsbüttel and Kiel-Holtenau. This saves him the journey around the Cimbrian Peninsula (Jutland) through the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat. With the canal, the route is on average 250 nautical miles (around 460 km) shorter, depending on the port of departure and destination.