The Rhine–Herne Canal is a 45.6-kilometre-long (28.3 mi) transportation canal in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with five canal locks. The canal was built over a period of eight years and connects the harbour in Duisburg on the Rhine with the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Henrichenburg, following the valley of the Emscher. It was widened in the 1980s. The Rhein-Herne canal ship was designed specifically for this canal; normally of about 1300–1350 ton capacity, it has a maximum draft of 2.50 metres (8.2 ft), a length of approximately 80 metres (260 ft), and maximum beam of 9.50 metres (31.2 ft).

The Dortmund–Ems Canal is a 269-kilometre (167 mi) long canal in Germany between the inland port of the city of Dortmund and the seaport of Emden. The artificial southern part of the canal ends after 215 kilometres (134 mi) at Herbrum lock near Meppen. The route then takes the river Ems for 45 kilometres (28 mi) to Oldersum lock. From there, the canal continues along a second artificial segment of 9 kilometres (6 mi). This latter section was built because inland ships at the time of the construction of the canal were not built for the open sea, which they would have faced at the Dollart and the entry to the sea port of Emden. It is connected to the Ems-Jade Canal from Emden to Wilhelmshaven.