A Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt (WSA - Waterways and Shipping Office) is a regional German agency responsible for the administration of federal navigable waters and for the regulation of vessel traffic. The thirty-nine offices are supervised by the national Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV - Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration) and accountable to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. In total the offices cover 23,000 km² of maritime waters and 7,350 km of inland waterways.
Each WSA has a defined geographical coverage. For example, WSA Lauenburg covers a section of the River Elbe together with tributaries and the Elbe-Lübeck Canal; WSA Cuxhaven covers the lower Elbe and an extensive sea area.
Icebreaking fleet
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 metres (109.0 ft) long and 8.45 metres (27.7 ft) wide, with a draft of 1.4 metres (4.6 ft). They are diesel powered, with engines that produce 1,100 horsepower (820 kW). They cost 5 million Euros each. Other vessels include the Widder, Stier and the Wisent.