The locks - connection for navigation
The French-German agreement signed in Paris in 1969 led to the construction of the locks and the hydro-electric installations on the Rhine in Gambsheim, operated for the first time in 1974. The locks are managed by Voies Navigables de France, and the hydro-electric installations by CERGA, a subsidiary of EDF and EnBW:
Location: Kilometer stone 309 on the Rhine (PK Rhin 309) from the exit of Lake Constance, 16 km downstream Strasbourg.
The largest inland navigation locks in France
- Length: 270 m
- Width: 24 m
- Average difference in level: 10,65 m
- Volume of water per drainage: 70,000 m³
- Filling / emptying lock chambers: 7 minutes, via lateral aqueducts
- Weight of each downstream sluice gate: 270 tonnes
- Average time for a boat to go through: 15 minutes
- Traffic: 35,000 boats
i.e 25 million tonnes of freight / year
i.e approx.. 100 boats / day - Nationality of the boats:
> 42 % Dutch
> 38 % German
> 4 % French
> 16 % other
Free navigation on the Rhine river (Mannheim Convention of 17th October 1868)
Permanent navigation made possible by use of modern equipment (radars, GPS, echo sounders etc.)
Control station: locks and traffic management 24hrs a day, 7 days a week
Visitors' information:
> For security reasons, the locks are enclosed and can therefore only be seen from 4 meters distance.
> Smoking ban in the area of the locks. Ships emit gas from their engine bay while entering the locks, wich is highly inflammable.
> offer unavailable at the moment 1h-guided tours are offered on request (against fees, German or French). You will have access to the area between the two locks. Contact: Joseph Jacob, Tel. +33 (0)3 88 96 74 92 or cell phone +33 (0)6 79 35 93 07, jacob.joseph@free.fr
