Important short cut

Shipping companies save 250 sea miles on average if they opt to use the Kiel Canal. For this reason, the waterway is a key element in Hapag-Lloyd’s route network.
Which of these waterways do you think is used by more ships every year – the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal or the Kiel Canal? The almost 100-kilometre-long Kiel Canal between Brunsbüttel and Kiel in Germany is in fact the world’s busiest artificial waterway for sea vessels. Over 32,000 ships passed through it last year – more than the Suez and Panama Canals combined. That figure is set to increase in 2015. The number of ships that travelled through the canal between January and May was already up 600 compared with the same period last year. The Kiel Canal is also out in front in terms of age, celebrating its 120th birthday this year.

There were festivities 120 years ago as well, when Kaiser Wilhelm II personally inaugurated the canal on 21 June 1895 amid much pomp and ceremony on board his imperial yacht, the “Hohenzollern”, following eight years of construction. The honour of travelling in the convoy directly behind his luxury ship was given to Norddeutscher Lloyd’s “Kaiser Wilhelm II”. The Bremen-based shipping company had found favour with the monarch over Hapag because, unlike Hapag, it had agreed not only to transport the Kaiser’s guests at its own expense, but also to provide them with food and beverages.

Since the chosen Lloyd steamer had also been named after the monarch, there was little surprise when Wilhelm II announced: “I have decided that the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer should follow first behind my yacht, and then the Hamburg-Amerika-Linie vessel. The imperial princes will travel on the Lloyd ship.” However, a steamer from the Hapag fleet had already sailed through the canal two weeks before the official opening celebrations as a trial run for the very first large vessel. Hapag also appeared to benefit from organisational mishaps at Norddeutscher Lloyd. The story goes that the provisions on board were so meagre that the hungry passengers eagerly helped themselves to the buffet on the Hapag ships later on and praised the excellent service that they encountered there.

The canal commenced regular operations shortly after these celebrations, on 1 July 1895, at which point the focus shifted to the passage of military ships. Today, the Kiel Canal’s primary function is the faster transportation of goods. In 2014 alone, ships carried a total cargo volume of 99.1 million tonnes through the canal – the third-highest amount in history. Added to this is the time factor. A shipping company will save 250 sea miles, the distance around Skagerrak – between the northern coast of Denmark, the southern coast of Norway and the south-western coast of Sweden – if it opts to use the Kiel Canal. For this reason, the Kiel Canal is also a key element in Hapag-Lloyd’s route network. Four of its five liner services with destinations in the Baltic region travel through the Schleswig-Holstein waterway. Feeder ships are mainly used for this. These carry cargo from the Baltic ports to the central handling port in Hamburg, from where it is then transported all over the world – and vice versa.

Due to its age, the Kiel Canal is increasingly in need of renovation. The waterway will have to be deepened so that it can accommodate the ever-bigger freighters. Another lock chamber is also required, and certain stretches of the canal need to be straightened and widened. The Kiel Canal Initiative has presented a timetable for the renovation, which is estimated to cost around EUR 1.5 billion and should be completed by 2028. This is urgently required so that the canal can continue to fulfil its important role as a global trade artery in the future.
Source: Hapag-Lloyd