The Rhine–Herne Canal () is a transportation canal in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with five canal locks. The canal was built over a period of eight years (5 April 1906 – 14 July 1914) and connects the harbour in Duisburg on the Rhine () with the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Henrichenburg (), following the valley of the Emscher. It was widened in the 1980s. The Rhein-Herne canal ship was designed specifically for this canal; normally of about 1300–1350 ton capacity, it has a maximum draft of , a length of approximately , and maximum beam of . Originally the Rhine-Herne canal ended in Herne, where it met a branch of the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal running from Henrichenburg to Herne, the intersection situated just above the East Herne lock. After the closure of the last part of the Henrichenburg to Herne canal, the Henrichenburg-Herne section of the Dortmund-Ems was added to the Rhein-Herne Canal. Water system The distribution of water in the canal is realised through five pump stations. Located at Duisburg-Meiderich, Oberhausen, Gelsenkirchen, Wanne-Eickel and East Herne, they pump water from the Rhine into the canal at each stage. As well as this, water from the Lippe river to the east is brought in through the Datteln-Hamm Canal. Locks Duisburg-Meiderich sluicegate In 1980 the current sluicegate was completed, including a under-gate and control platform, which has now become a visible yellow landmark in the Ruhr landscape. The intended harbour of the old lock is today underwater and part of the foundations of the canal walls. This harbour was meant to be a possible spot for the eventual significant reconstruction of the lock, but it was never used for this purpose. A possible reconstruction of the sluice gate was commissioned in 1914 with the canal opening. Instead of the old sluice of in length and in breadth a new sluice chamber with a usable length of and a breadth of were commissioned, so that bigger ships with lighters (barges) as specified in Euro class II can pass through the sluice gates. Ports Duisburg The canal begins in Duisburg along with the Schifffahrtskanal; connected to land by three bays of the Kanalhafen, and to the rest of the world via the Rhine. The Rhine–Herne Canal headquarters is in the Meiderich district of Duisburg, it serves as the water and shipping management canal and its locks from Essen to Herne. From here maintenance