Software problem paralyzes shipping traffic in the Kiel Canal for hours. A new software for controlling the ships caused problems between Brunsbüttel and Kiel on Sunday.
On Sunday, a software error caused shipping traffic to be disrupted in the busy Kiel Canal in Schleswig-Holstein. The Kiel Canal connects the Baltic Sea with the North Sea. Only recently new software was introduced for the control of ship traffic. This software is responsible for smooth operation in the canal and is especially important for large ships with a length of more than 130 meters. Because ships in the canal are not allowed to meet directly if they exceed a certain size. For this purpose there are several so-called switches in the Kiel Canal. Here, one of the ships has to make a short stopover in the siding and let the other ship pass. But the program that regulates exactly these processes failed on Sunday morning.
The result was that initially for several hours no ships could pass through the locks in Kiel and Brunsbüttel Deportation was consistently always possible. After a few hours, smaller ships with a length of less than 130 meters could be reinserted. Larger ships could only use the locks again from the evening and pass through the Kiel Canal. Due to the restricted use, a traffic jam had formed in front of the locks in Kiel and Brunsbüttel.
Ships of all sizes can now pass through the canal again, but the software problem has not yet been resolved.
Container ship Sonderborg Kiel Canal
Kiel Canal Lock system in Kiel
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