The canal is 13.9 kilometers long and runs by a number of Eindhoven industrial areas and the towns of Geldrop, Mierlo and Helmond.

However, the canal sees much recreational use; it is used for sport fishing, there is a bicycle path and a number of local rowing associations use it for practice.

Finally, a winding hole was laid in Tongelre and a sluice was installed at the canal mouth in the Zuid-Willemsvaart.

The main use of the canal was in the transport of heavy goods: machinery for the industry as well as bulk cargoes of charcoal and rough wool, plus wood for the matchmaking and cigarbox factories.

After World War II the internal shipping of the country (including to Eindhoven) temporarily rebounded.

The lift bridge over the canal in Eindhoven is an industrial monument (together with a number of nearby buildings, one of which – the former ice cream factory of Tongelre – houses the DAF museum).