The Berlin-Spandau Shipping Canal (BSK; formerly Hohenzollern Canal; Spandauer Canal; Spandauer Schiffahrtskanal) connects the rivers Spree and Havel over a length of twelve kilometers. The canal is a federal waterway and lies entirely within Berlin's urban area. From the Spree to the Plötzensee lock it is classified as waterway class III, from there to the Havel it is classified as class IV. Legally, the federal waterways Westhafen-Verbindungskanal and Westhafenkanal with Charlottenburg Verbindungskanal also belong to the BSK.[1][2] The Spree-Havel Waterways and Shipping Office is responsible for its administration.
The canal branches off from the Spree in a northerly direction at a bend in the Spree at kilometer 14.5 of the Spree-Oder waterway and opens up to the Humboldthafen shortly after its beginning, at the level of the main train station. From there, the canal continues north, along Europacity, past the Bundeswehr hospital, through the North Harbor, past the Moabit power station to the West Harbor, then westward through the Jungfernheide and finally flows into the Havel at the northern end of Lake Spandau (until 1914 into Lake Tegel). The Plötzensee lock serves to balance out differences in water levels between the Spree and Havel. It divides the canal into a five-kilometer-long Spree section and a seven-kilometer-long Havel section.
Driving on the BSK between the West Harbor and the Spree is prohibited with recreational vehicles