Kiel.Sailing.City
The pilot of the Kiel Canal
Thousands of ships pass through the Kiel Canal every year, making pilots indispensable guides for safe passages. Gerald Immens is one of them. He lives his dream job and tells us why the job is like a taxi rank, how different every day is and why the size doesn't matter.
© Jan-Michael Böckmann, Kiel-Marketing e.V.
Kiel-Marketing: What does the day-to-day work of a pilot look like?
Gerald Immens: The job of a pilot brings with it one of the biggest challenges right from the start, namely the lack of a fixed working day. This can be compared to the principle of a taxi rank at a railway station. Our pilots are actually always on standby. When there are a lot of ships, we are on duty around the clock; when it's quieter, we spend longer periods at home. This means that the deployment times per pilot can vary greatly. If we have hundreds of ships to look after, it can mean that I'm only on duty once a day. If there are only 50 ships, we experience a summer slump and I have one day on duty and then one day off. So it can happen that I come home and say to my wife: "I'm going to lie down quickly because I'll be needed again soon." The problem in our profession is that the lead time for deployment can be extremely short.
“The oldest, most dilapidated freighters are sweaty.”
Gerald Immens
So you have to be very flexible.
Pilotage work requires extraordinary flexibility. Patience and calmness are essential, but reward you with a very fulfilling job. What I particularly like about my job is that I don't sit at a desk from eight to four every day and that I never know in advance what to expect on the phone or when I'll be called on duty. Every day is a moment of surprise. I meet different people from different countries, and that's exactly what I like about my work: the constantly changing situations and the variety of encounters.
What was the biggest ship you have ever accompanied?
My grandma, who was over 100, always had a special way of looking at things. When she heard about a cruise ship, she would ask curiously: "Have you been on it? Was it hard?" She never realised that size doesn't matter. The oldest, most dilapidated freighters are sweaty, the cruisers usually less so.
The Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal is almost 100 kilometres long and connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea, providing an important shortcut for ships to avoid the long route around Scandinavia. The canal is the busiest artificial sea route in the world
Since its opening in 1895 as the "Kaiser Wilhelm Canal", the Kiel Canal has revitalised the trade and tourism industry. Locks allow ships to ascend to the level of the Baltic Sea and vice versa. From the lock platform, you can enjoy an unforgettable view of the Kiel Canal and the Holtenau High Bridge.
The viewing platform is located directly above the lock gate, on a gate bunker from the Second World War. From here, you can directly follow how ships are sluiced and how the lock gate opens and closes.
© Jan-Michael Böckmann, Kiel-Marketing e.V.
HOW TO GET THERE
If you want to experience the picturesque waterway and the impressive locks from the water, you can take the Adler 1 ferry from the Kiel-Wik district to Holtenau. The ferry departs and returns every 15 to 20 minutes daily and is free of charge for all passengers and bicycles.
Address:
Maklerstraße 1, 24159 Kiel
© Kiel-Marketing GmbH
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