Key shipping lane reopens after shutdown in Germany

The Kiel Canal that connects the North and Baltic seas opened for operations nearly two weeks after the oil spill forced the lane to shut down on December 21, 2022. The long duration of the canal blockage caused some frustration since the trade lane is one of the busiest artificial shipping routes in the world.

The oil spill was near Brunsbuttle port in Germany’s northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. According to local reports, the shutdown has caused a loss of euro 1.6 million per day. Tobias Goldschmidt, the State Environment Minister said that he was aware that it demanded a lot of patience from many of the liners as they could not move their consignments but defended the two-week closure saying the cleaning of the site was important for the protection of seas to save from disaster and thanked the people who worked to clear up the oil form the canal waters.