Mittelland Canal

Mittelland Canal, German Mittellandkanal, English Midland Canal, German waterway begun in 1905 and completed in 1938. It extends from the Dortmund-Ems Canal east of Rheine, running eastward along the northern border of the Central German Uplands to the Elbe River north of Magdeburg (a distance of about 321 km, or 199 miles), linking there with the Elbe-Havel Canal eastward to Berlin. Side canals connect it with Osnabrück, Hannover, Salzgitter, and Hildesheim.

As originally built, the main canal carried barges of up to 1,000 tons, with locks connecting it with the Weser River and a boat lift with the Elbe River. Since 1963 the canal was progressively enlarged to accommodate 1,350-ton ships. The Elbe Lateral Canal (Elbe-Seitenkanal), opened in 1977, allowed boats travelling to Hamburg to avoid passing through East Germany. Following German reunification, the canal crossing of the Elbe, construction of which was abandoned during World War II, was completed as part of the improvement of waterway communication with Berlin. Coal, building materials, and oil products make up a large part of the barge traffic; the western end of the canal is the busiest, carrying some 12 million tons annually.