Kiel Canal Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (, literally "North-[to]-Baltic Sea canal", formerly known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula. This not only saves time but also avoids storm-prone seas and having to pass through the Sound or Belts. Besides its two sea entrances, the Kiel Canal is linked, at Oldenbüttel, to the navigable River
Ports of the Baltic Sea Ports of the Baltic Sea There are over 200 ports in the Baltic Sea. When only those ports that handle a minimum of 50,000 tonnes of cargo annually, and where at least part of this cargo is international are taken into account, the number of ports reaches approximately 190. In 2008, the total amount of cargo handled in the Baltic Sea ports amounted to 822.4 million tonnes, which was 0.4 per cent less than in 2007. Primorsk, Saint Petersburg and Muuga were the biggest ports in the Baltic Sea in 2008. Together the three top ports handled over one fifth