Annual Report 2006

canal lock
in ijmuiden
As things stand today, the Port
of Amsterdam relies on a single
80-year-old canal lock in the
seaport of IJmuiden for 80% of
the cargo it handles. To ensure
good accessibility of the Port of
Amsterdam, a new large canal
lock in IJmuiden will have to be
built. This is required to cope
with the growth of the port
business in Amsterdam. If left
unchanged, the canal lock complex
risks developing into a
bottleneck for Amsterdam.
Together with local authorities
in the North Sea Canal Area, in
2006 the Port of Amsterdam
vigorously urged Central
Government to take the decision
concerning the construction of
a new canal lock in the first half
of 2007 and not in 2008, as
planned. After the expected
positive decision, it will take
between eight and ten years
before the new canal lock is
operational. In the meantime,
the Port of Amsterdam and the
Directorate-General for Public
Works and Water Management
will be pulling out all the stops
to optimize access to and from
the sea.
deepening
of the
ijgeul canal
In May 2006, Karla Peijs – the
then Dutch Minister of Transport
– reopened the IJgeul canal,
which had been both deepened
and extended. The IJgeul canal
forms the link between deeper
North Sea waters and the North
Sea Canal, which runs all the
way from the Dutch coast to
Amsterdam. The IJgeul canal
now has a depth of 17.8 meters,
which allows the biggest fully
laden bulk carriers to reach the
North Sea Port of IJmuiden and
then sail all the way to Amsterdam.
Further, the IJgeul was extended
from 23 to 43 kilometers.
Finally, the North Sea Canal was
dredged to a depth of 15.5 meters
to ensure good access for
large vessels.
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