It's official: the canal lock in Otterndorf on the Elbe is to be demolished and rebuilt. The relevant planning documents from the responsible NLWKN (Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation Agency) are known and have been published. publicly viewable. The next step is to award the construction contracts by October 2017. According to the NLWKN, the lock will therefore still be usable for pleasure craft in the coming 2017 season. The access to the Elbe-Weser shipping route is only expected to be closed for three to four years from 2018.
The lock in Otterndorf (also known as Hadelner Kanalschleuse) marks the entrance to the Elbe-Weser shipping route on the Elbe side, which connects the Elbe and Weser rivers over a distance of around 60 kilometres. For sailing boats and motorboats, it provides a sheltered and shorter alternative for travelling past Cuxhaven via the Outer Weser and Outer Elbe. The Hadelner Canal is the first section of the inland waterway; the Otterndorf lock ensures the drainage of the catchment area of almost 300 km².
According to information from the NLWKN, the lock is now being demolished and rebuilt as part of the measures to raise and reinforce the Elbe dykes in the Haeln dyke and bank construction association area. It was built in 1853 for the drainage of the Haveln Canal and for inland shipping between the Elbe and Weser rivers. The existing structure stands on a wooden pile foundation, which will not be able to cope with the dimensions of the dyke required today and in the coming years, both in terms of the length of the embankments and the height. According to the NLWKN, a new construction is the solution that would incur the lowest costs.
The other locks on the inland waterway in Bederkesa and Bremerhaven will remain unaffected by the construction work. The canal will continue to be navigable on the inland side until shortly before the Otterndorf lock, and the berths in Otterndorf will not be affected either, according to project manager Andreas Kosch.
