Kiel - Holtenau

Marina near Kiel (Holtenau)

Last edited 06.09.2023 at 10:08 by NV Charts Team

Latitude

54° 22’ 8.4” N

Longitude

10° 8’ 44.5” E

Description

Yacht mooring north of the locks of the Kiel Canal in the Kiel Inner Fjord. Here is also the payment machine for the NOK fees and if necessary berth fees. 

NV Cruising Guide

Navigation

Day and night, the control is simple. The overall lighting of the lock facilities allows good orientation at night. However, the approaches for navigation to locks must always be kept clear, unless you want to enter the lock chamber (white light for the respective lock chamber). Over loudspeakers the lock personnel gives in addition if necessary instructions.

The lock master can be addressed in urgent cases over VHF channel 12 (call sign "Kiel Canal 4") or Tel. 0431-3603-152. More details about the signals and the Kiel Canal can be found in the NV Charts series 1 map "Kiel Canal" and the POI to the NOK entrance. 

Note: Due to the renovation work in the lock area and the associated higher traffic density and proximity to commercial shipping, recreational boaters should refer to the information of the WSA Kiel-Holtenau (link above) .

Berths

The Tiessenkai is not suitable for pleasure boats. However, yacht jetties are located immediately west of it on the north bank, below the plane tree avenue. Sport boats, which want to pass or leave the channel, find here guest places alongside on the inside of the outer jetty. Mooring time max. 3 days. It must be expected with current (especially when opening the sieve at the drainage canal) and swell.

The berths can be used without fender board poorly.

Surroundings

Nearly all possibilities of supply as well as various restaurants are available in the immediate vicinity. There is a bus connection to the city center (about 10km)

NV Land Guide

The history of Holtenau is inextricably linked with the history of the Kiel Canal. For this reason alone, a visit to the Holtenau locks is highly recommended. A viewing platform is available for observing the operation of the locks. The visitor learns more about the construction history in the information room of the lock.

The Vikings already shied away from the circumnavigation of Skagen and shipped loads on the Treene and the Eider to the North Sea. The disadvantage, however, was that the goods (from Haithabu on the Schlei) had to be transported a bit overland. Trimmed tree trunks were used as rollers on which the hulls were moved as far as the rivers. With lines, the crews kept their ships from tipping over and also took oxen and horses to help pull the heavy load.

Nine different waterways were planned over the centuries between Kolding and Travemünde, but none were realized. Around 1570, Duke Adolf of Schleswig-Gottorp asked Emperor Maximilian II for permission to have a canal built from Kiel to the Eider, but this project was also dropped. In the following centuries, it was especially military leaders who missed a North Sea-Baltic connection, because Danes and Swedes mostly successfully controlled the Baltic Sea at the narrows of the Belts. Wallenstein and Cromwell were among those who longed for a "passage" for their fleet. Christian VII finally put the long-planned project into action and inaugurated the Eider Canal in 1784, but because of the high fees of the canal, which was dug almost exclusively with shovels and spades, few ships used it. Moreover, the strategic advantage continued to lie with the Danes, since the 40-kilometer-long, 30-meter-wide and more than three-meter-deep canal was initially only available to Danish ships. Incidentally, the first ships were still towed by horses.

The old lock chambers of this canal at nearby Rathmannsdorf are now protected monuments (about one kilometer west of Knoop). While the Eider Canal connected the Baltic Sea and the Eider River near Rendsburg, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, completed in 1895 and now called the Kiel Canal, no longer ends in the Eider River. The new 98.6-kilometer waterway leads straight to Brunsbüttel in the Lower Elbe, or rather begins there, because the Kaiser started his inaugural voyage from Brunsbüttel. Once again, it was strategic military reasons that led to the construction of the new waterway. The Eider Canal, which in the meantime had fallen into Prussian hands as a result of the War of 1864, was too small for the large German warships.

Today, the largest locks in the world are located in Kiel-Holtenau. They are 300 meters long, 45 meters wide and 14 meters deep. Ships up to 235 meters long and 32.5 meters wide and 9.5 meters deep are allowed to pass through the canal if they are no higher than 40 meters from the waterline. Under the name Kiel Canal, the artificial shipping route is known to seafarers all over the world, and its use results in an average route reduction of 250 nautical miles!

The operation of the locks also plays a decisive role in determining life in Holtenau. Many pilots and canal steersmen live here, brokerage and ship equipment companies are located here. Several authorities such as the customs and seaman's office, institutes, institutions and the water police are represented. For pleasure boaters, the Holtenau jetty is - apart from the moderate swell - an ideal berth as the starting or end point of the canal trip. Stores are just a few minutes' walk from the harbor, and the ship's chandlery is in the immediate vicinity. The wooden jetty is idyllically located by an avenue.

On the first floor of the Holtenau lighthouse, on the headland facing the fjord, a memorial hall commemorates the construction of the canal. A few meters away, the Förde steamers depart - ideal transport connection to Kiel (see also Düsternbrook).

A trip to the "Villa Hoheneck", the former restaurant with garden directly on the Kiel Canal, is recommended. Already the view of the passing ships of all nations is worth the visit, even if no more Ausschank takes place. The way there leads along the shore road to the western end of the town at the Prinz Heinrich Bridge, built in 1970. From the bridge you have a good view of the canal and the locks.

Marina Information

Max Depth 4 m

Contact

Phone +49 17033 80 648
Website https://www.wsa-kiel.wsv.de/Webs/WSA/WSA-Kiel-Holtenau/DE/2_Schifffahrt/f_Sportschifffahrt/g_Tiessenkai_Leuchtturm_Ki-Ho/Tiessenkai_Leuchtturm_Ki-Ho_node.html

Surroundings

Toilet

Shower

Restaurant

Imbiss

Grocery

Public Transport

Garbage

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