Together with Hohensaaten-Friedrichsthaler Wasserstraße, the Oderhaltung and the Schwedter Querfahrt it forms the Havel-Oder-Wasserstraße.

It runs from the town of Cedynia near the city of Szczecin on the Oder River between Germany and Poland to the Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, near Berlin.

The assumed start of the actual Oder–Havel Canal is the current mouth of the Oranienburger Havel.

It leads through the Lehnitzsee, which previously did not belong to the Havel, and reaches the Lehnitzschleuse.

Its top parting extends from the headwater of the Lehnitz lock to the Niederfinow boat lift.