Elbe–Weser waterway

The Elbe–Weser waterway (German: Elbe-Weser-Schifffahrtsweg) or Elbe–Weser shipping channel[1] is a short-cut between the rivers Elbe and Weser in North Germany which is part-canal and part-river.

Very early on, rulers in the Elbe–Weser triangle wanted to build a link between the Elbe and the Weser, because ships had to follow a long detour around Cuxhaven, Neuwerk and Scharhörn.

This circuitous route was necessary because the Wadden Sea, with its shoals in the area between the Weser and Elbe estuaries, was unnavigable.

The Hadeln Canal was built between 1852 and 1855 and, in addition to providing drainage, acted as a short cut between the Weser and the Elbe until the 1990s, especially for small coastal motor vessels and sports boats.

These official figures are only of a theoretical nature, because the canal is no longer managed and reports of boats exceeding these limits are on the rise.

The construction of the third lock on the Geeste in 1898 made the river independent of tides but also resulted in the depth of the channel becoming too low.

Further building work, from 1957 to 1961 and the construction of a tide and storm surge barrier at Bremerhaven improved its shipping capacity significantly.