The Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal), until 1948 known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, is a 98 kilometre (61 mile) long canal in the German Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein that links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of 280 nautical miles (519 kilometers) is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland peninsula. This not only saves time but also avoids potentially dangerous storm-prone seas. It is the world's busiest artificial waterway.