A Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt (WSA - ''Waterways and Shipping Office'') is a federal

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

agency, responsible for the administration of federal navigable waters and for the regulation of vessel traffic. The thirty-nine offices are supervised by the national Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV - ''Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration'') and accountable to the

Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (german: Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr, ), abbreviated BMDV, is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is located in Berlin, while the majority ...

. In total the offices cover 23,000 km² of maritime waters and 7,350 km of inland waterways.

WSA stations

Each WSA has a defined geographical coverage. For example, WSA

Lauenburg Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe ( en, Lauenberg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein ...

covers a section of the River Elbe together with tributaries and the Elbe-Lübeck Canal; WSA

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

covers the lower

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

and an extensive sea area.

Service

Waterways

In the infrastructure, the waterways and shipping authorities perform the following sovereign tasks for the federal waterways and shipping administration: * Maintenance and operation of the federal waterways and the federal shipping facilities (such as locks,

weirs A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

, operations centers, etc.) * Police tasks * Setting and operating of navigation signs * water level documentation and information * Icefighting (with own icebreakers) The Administration operates a fleet of about a dozen

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

s. The newest, the ''

Keiler The ''Keiler'' is a river icebreaker commissioned in December 2011 to serve as the flagship of Lauenburg's Water and Shipping Authority fleet of ten icebreakers, on the Elbe River. The vessel is long and wide. She has a crew of four, and has ...

'', was delivered in December 2011. Their oldest existing icebreaker, the ''Steinbock'', was commissioned in 1935. The ''Keiler'', and another new vessel, the '' Kietz'', are long and wide, with a draft of . They are diesel powered, with engines that produce {{convert, 1100, hp, kW. They cost 5 million

Euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

each. Other vessels include the '' Widder, Stier'' and the ''

Wisent The European bison (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, along ...

''.

Inland navigation

According to the law on the tasks of the federal government in the field of inland navigation, the waterways and shipping offices perform the following sovereign tasks_ * Promotion of the inland fleet and inland waterway transport * Defense against dangers to the safety and smoothness of traffic as well as the prevention of dangers emanating from shipping (shipping police) and harmful environmental effects within the meaning of the Federal Immission Control Act * Granting permission for watercraft to travel on federal waterways

Sea navigation

* Promotion of the German merchant fleet and provision for maintaining the efficiency of the seaports * Defense against dangers to the safety and smoothness of traffic as well as the prevention of dangers emanating from maritime shipping (shipping police) and harmful environmental effects within the meaning of the Federal Immission Control Act * seaward of the boundary of the territorial sea, shipping police, averting dangers and eliminating disturbances to public security or order * Measures to fulfill tasks incumbent on the federal government in the field of maritime shipping based on other regulations

References