Since April 2024, the barges DARSS and ZINGST have been in service on the “Expansion of the Kiel Canal Eastern Section” project. The consortium carrying out the project has chartered the barges for a period of around 40 weeks.
The Kiel Canal is the busiest artificial sea route in the world and a lifeline for European freight traffic. Economically, it plays an important role for the whole of Schleswig-Holstein, the metropolis of Hamburg and for the competitiveness of the German seaports.
Completed in 1895, the NOK has already been adapted several times due to the growing requirements and dimensions of shipping. The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration is expanding the NOK in the area from Großkönigsförde to Kiel Holtenau. The expansion will ensure reliable passage times for shipping and the canal is well prepared for the shipping traffic of the future.
The main task of the barges DARRS and ZINGST is to remove part of the approximately 6.8 million cubic meters of wet and dry excavated material produced during the canal expansion. The uncontaminated dredging spoil is transported to a dumping area in the Baltic Sea and deposited there.