Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt

A Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt (Waterways and Shipping Office, abbreviated WSA) is a German federal agency, responsible for the administration of federal navigable waters and for the regulation of vessel traffic.

The seventeen offices (plural: Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsämter, abbr. WSÄ) are supervised by the national Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV – Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration) and accountable to the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. In total the offices cover 23,000 km2 of maritime waters and 7,350 km of inland waterways.

WSA stations
Each WSA has a defined geographical coverage. For example, WSA Elbe covers the river Elbe from the border of Czech Republic until Hamburg together with tributaries and the Elbe-Lübeck Canal; WSA Main covers the navigable German federal waterway Main.

Waterways
In the infrastructure, the waterways and shipping authorities perform the following sovereign tasks for the federal waterways and shipping administration:

The Administration operates a fleet of about a dozen icebreakers. The newest, the Keiler, was delivered in December 2011. Their oldest existing icebreaker, the Steinbock, was commissioned in 1935. The Keiler, and another new vessel, the Kietz, are 33.21 m long and 8.45 m wide, with a draft of 1.4 m. They are diesel powered, with engines that produce 1100 hp. They cost 5 million Euros each. Other vessels include the Widder, Stier and the Wisent.
 * Maintenance and operation of the federal waterways and the federal shipping facilities (such as locks, weirs, operations centers, etc.)
 * Police tasks
 * Setting and operating of navigation signs
 * water level documentation and information
 * Icefighting (with own icebreakers)

Inland navigation
According to the law on the tasks of the federal government in the field of inland navigation, the waterways and shipping offices perform the following sovereign tasks:
 * Promotion of the inland fleet and inland waterway transport
 * Defense against dangers to the safety and smoothness of traffic as well as the prevention of dangers emanating from shipping (shipping police) and harmful environmental effects within the meaning of the Federal Immission Control Act
 * Granting permission for watercraft to travel on federal waterways

Sea navigation

 * Promotion of the German merchant fleet and provision for maintaining the efficiency of the seaports
 * Defense against dangers to the safety and smoothness of traffic as well as the prevention of dangers emanating from maritime shipping (shipping police) and harmful environmental effects within the meaning of the Federal Immission Control Act
 * seaward of the boundary of the territorial sea, shipping police, averting dangers and eliminating disturbances to public security or order
 * Measures to fulfill tasks incumbent on the federal government in the field of maritime shipping based on other regulations