On the Way to the Humboldt-Forum

City-friendly Logistics

In the past ten years, major construction sites at Potsdamer Platz and along the Spree River bend have shown how effective Berlin's canals and waterways are as transport routes. They helped avoid thousands of loads that would otherwise have been delivered by truck. Transportation via water is not only environmentally friendly due to low levels of exhaust, it also has a minimal effect on busy inner-city auto traffic.

For the dismantling of the Palace of the Republic a large part of the material was transported via water.

In November 2005, steel poles were installed at the Palace's riverbank promenade to safeguard the Karl-Liebknechtbrücke while a temporary pier and steel bollards were set up for fasting the "Schubleichter", which are motorless barges attached to one another and propelled forward using tug boats.

Special traffic lights at City Hall Bridge and Liebknecht Bridge controlled the water traffic to and from the construction site. Additionally a traffic control center manned by staffers of WSA Berlin had been established as well as a seperate radio channel. Video-observance of the river Spree was in effect from Mühlendammschleuse to Monbijoubrücke. Thus it hadn't been necessary to close off the waterway to other ships.