Leisure boats - Arena Fritidsbåt

2 Country Background
2.1 Geography
The territory of Germany covers approximately 350 000 km 2 , consisting mainly of land
and roughly 8 000 km 2 of water. It is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and
the 62nd largest in the world (CIA Factbook, 2010).
According to European Commission (2010), 50 % of the German coast lies under a 5 m
elevation, compared to some 9 % of all coastal zones in Europe. Thus, Germany is
particularly vulnerable to severe storm surges and sea level rise, and affected by coastal
erosion. The German coast towards the North Sea is characterized by flat sandy beaches
and tidal changes of two to three meters twice a day. Dikes and dunes are built to
protect the coastline. The Baltic has no tides and storms tend to be less harmful than at
the North Sea side, but this coast is also affected by erosion. The Baltic Sea has a low
salt content and freezes easily in the winter.
Germany has a total waterway network with a length of about 10 000 km. The coastline
is about 3 500 km long, while the inland water network is about 7 350 km. For
comparison, Norway has a coast line of about 25 150 km and 1 580 km waterway
network (CIA Factbook, 2010). The longest waterways are Rhine, Elbe and Danube.
About 35 % of the inland network length is free-flowing, 41 % is regulated and 24 % are
artificial waterways (canals) (Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes, 2010).
German rivers and canals have a number of locks, raising and lowering boats between
stretches of water of different levels. Further, the country has many lakes, of which
Bodensee, Müritz and Chiemsee are the largest.
Table 1. Estimates of the length of the German coastline and water ways by
different sources
Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (2010)
Total Inland Waterways 7 350 km
EU Maritime (2010)
Total water area 8 482 km 2
Coastline 3 3 524 km
CIA World Fact book (2010)
Total Area 357 022 km 2
Coastline 2 389 km
2.2 Climate
Germany has a moderate oceanic/continental climate with frequent changes in weather
and primarily westerly winds. Winters in the north and northwest of the country are
relatively mild and summers are warm but not hot. The difference between winter and
summer is greater in the southern part. In July, the average temperature is around 18
degrees Celsius in the lowlands and 20 degrees Celsius in the valleys of the south (Facts
about Germany, 2010).
3 European Commission (2010); Calculation of coast length based on cartography of all continental and insular
coasts excluding islands less than 1 km2 and with a population less than 50 persons, inland shores, fjords etc
where the mouth is less than 1 km wide.
INBDP 2010 Leisure boats Germany 8