The Kiel Canal is the artificial channel that connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea across northern Germany.
It runs from Brunsbüttel on the Elbe estuary to Kiel-Holtenau on the Baltic coast. The canal allows ships to avoid the longer route around Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula and the Skagerrak.
Construction of the modern canal began in 1887, and it opened in 1895 under the name Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal. It was widened between 1907 and 1914 to accommodate larger warships and commercial vessels. After the First World War, it became known internationally as the Kiel Canal.
The canal is a major shortcut for northern European shipping. It differs from the Suez and Panama canals because it does not connect two oceans; instead, it links two marginal seas of the Atlantic system and has no lock system because its water levels are broadly similar.