Germany's Kiel Canal to reopen for ships following oil-spill cleanup

Germany's Kiel Canal was scheduled to reopen for shipping at midday (1100 GMT) on Tuesday after a major oil spillage was contained, reported dpa.

"The clean-up work in Brunsbüttel has progressed well," Tobias Goldschmidt, environment minister for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, said on Monday, referring to the town at the western entrance of the canal.

According to his statement, a spreading of the oil into the river Elbe and the North Sea, which would have caused an environmental catastrophe, was successfully prevented.

The canal was closed on December 21 after a leak in a pipeline caused large quantities of crude oil to escape. Teams of helpers joined the efforts to clear the spillage from embankments and harbour facilities, as well as locks and around ships.

The canal between Kiel on the Baltic Sea and Brunsbüttel at the mouth of the Elbe at the North Sea is considered the world's busiest man-made sea waterway.