The Kiel Canal provides a convenient shortcut between the North Sea and the Baltic, or as the Germans call it, the Nordsee and the Ostsee. We Europeans call it the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, or NOK for short, while you Brits just call it the Kiel Canal.
Going from west to east you enter the Kiel Canal via the Elbe River where you enter the locks at Brunsbüttel and you leave the Kiel Canal at Holtenau locks where you proceed into the Kieler Förde. Due to the shortcut of approximately 240 miles, 27,000 commercial vessels and 12,000 yachts transit the Kiel Canal every year. Yachts are only allowed to use the canal during daylight hours, which provides the opportunity (during summer) to make the passage in one day.
The canal is 53 miles long, 90m wide and 11m deep. These dimensions accommodate commercial vessels up to 235m LOA and with
