From the National Geographic Explorer in Europe, 9/22/2011, National Geographic Explorer

North Sea

Today we transited the Kiel Canal and then sailed across the southern section of the North Sea. The day started early as we entered Holtenau Lock, the eastern entrance to the Kiel Canal at 0200. With our canal pilot we entered the 98-kilometre long canal in the German Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein that links the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau to the North Sea at Brunsbüttel. Using the canal saves 520 (about 1000 km) nautical miles compared to sailing around from Kiel to Brundsbüttel. The Kiel Canal is the most heavily used artificial seaway in the world with over 40,000 vessels passing through annually, plus numerous small craft. Although the North Sea and the Baltic are connected at the Danish straits around Copenhagen, the Baltic Sea has only a very small tidal range, about 7 cm, whereas the North Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean and experiences tidal ranges of 2-3 meters. We rose about 30 cm. in the Holtenau Lock and then crossed northern Germany to the Brunsbüttel Lock where we rose an additional 60 cm because the North Sea was at high water. We carried three different pilots through the locks and then as we sailed out of the Elbe River estuary into the North Sea. In the canal we passed a number of large cargo ships very close on our port side because of the constrained width of the canal at 160 meters.

In the North Sea we passed many ships, large and small, and it was a fascinating passage through one of the most important sea routes in history. One of the ships we passed was Hanjin Netherlands, one of the largest container ships currently sailing. She is 350 meters (about 1000 feet) long, with a beam of 46 meters and a draft of 11.3 meters. She carries 11,000 containers, but even she is not the largest, with several other ships which carry 15,000 containers at sea at the current time.

Today was a day to reflect on the history of expansion and trade which has gone on in the North Sea through the centuries. We enjoyed several presentations which helped us put this all in perspective and generally had a most enjoyable day sailing from Germany to the Netherlands.