Tenders go out at last for new Canal lock

The move comes a year after the symbolic turning of the first sod on the Brunsbuettel site by Government and local officials. There has been criticism of inactivity since then and charges that Berlin has neglected the vital 100km long waterway. The delay has also resulted in an increase in the estimated cost of the new lock from €300m to €375m.

Most worrying however for Canal operators and users is that the Government funded lock will not be up and running until 2021. Although offers to build are expected by mid-August, the construction contract itself will not be awarded until February of next year.

Only when the fifth lock is operating is it planned to completely renovate Brunsbuettel’s two existing old big locks. It was the breakdown of those facilities, which date back to the end of the 19^th Century, that caused the closure of the Canal earlier this year. Ships of over 125m, one third of the waterway’s traffic, had to detour an additional 460km through Skagerrak until temporary lock repairs could be carried out. About 35,000 ships carrying 100m tons used the Canal last year.

Many critics doubt the old Bruensbuettel locks will last until 2021 and predict further serious breakdowns before then. Even Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer acknowledged there will be further closures before things improve.

However, Claudia Thoma, a spokeswoman for Kiel Canal shipping authorities WSD, was more optimistic. She told Maritime Journal that Brunsbuettel’s big 310m long and 42m wide North Lock and the two small locks for ships to125m were now operating.

She added that repairs underway since the end of April on the second big South Lock were expected to last about 12 weeks, after which it too would be available for shipping. The North Lock will then be closed for repairs in turn.

The repairs involve the replacement of old lock gate tracks with new steel track plates, gate top tracks and gate foundations on three of the four existing gates. They are being handled by Nobiskrug Shipyard in Rendsburg on the Canal, which has rented a dry dock at associate yard ADM Kiel.

“The two big locks are being repaired so that they will, as far as is possible, function non-stop until the new fifth lock has gone into operation”, Claudia Thoma said.

The Kiel Canal’s problems do not end in Brunsbuettel. Plans are also being made for major renovation of the locks in Kiel at the other end of the Canal and for major waterway improvements as ships increase in size.

By Tom Todd