Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt


A Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt is a German federal agency, responsible for the administration of federal navigable waters and for the regulation of vessel traffic.
The seventeen offices are supervised by the national Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes and accountable to the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. 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 Elbe covers the river Elbe from the border of Czech Republic until Hamburg together with tributaries and the Elbe-Lübeck Canal; WSA Main covers the navigable German federal waterway Main.

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
  • Police tasks
  • Setting and operating of navigation signs
  • water level documentation and information
  • Icefighting
The Administration operates a fleet of about a dozen icebreakers. The newest, the Keiler, 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. They cost 5 million Euros each. Other vessels include the Widder, Stier and the Wisent.

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 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 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