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The Kieldrecht Lock is the biggest lock in the world to accommodate the biggest sea-going vessels. It will strengthen the competitiveness of the Port of Antwerp and will attract new economic activity to Flanders
His Majesty the King of Belgium recently inaugurated the Kieldrecht Lock for commercial shipping at Port of Antwerp in Belgium. Built with an investment of €382million, the lock strengthens the competitiveness of the Port of Antwerp and will attract new economic activity to Flanders.
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The lock is 500 metres in length, 68 metres in width and has an operational depth of around 17.80 metres, which also makes it the biggest lock in the world to accommodate the biggest sea-going vessels. The Kieldrecht Lock enables smooth access to the Waasland harbour in Antwerp. Until now, the smaller Kallo Lock was the only gate to the Waasland harbour. This meant that the ships could have to wait for more than three hours. Any problem with the Kallo Lock could paralyse the whole Waasland harbour. The Kieldrecht Lock now enables a second, bigger, more upstream access to the docks on the left bank of the Scheldt river. In future, the ships can expect faster and smoother access to the harbour.
The first ship to use the lock was Grande Lagos owned by Grimaldi shipping company. Marc Van Peel, Chairman, Antwerp Port Authority said, “The Kieldrecht Lock forms a necessary key to the further development of the port on the left bank of the Scheldt River. In recent years, our port had successfully overcome many hurdles, now ranking as number two in Europe.”
In order to retain that leading position, Antwerp must have a highly necessary basic infrastructure such as well-functioning locks that are adapted to the increased scale of international shipping.
The newly opened Kieldrecht Lock provides easy access to the Waasland harbour in Antwerp and enables a second, bigger, more upstream access to the docks on the left bank of the Scheldt river.
Both the government of Flanders and the Port Authority of Antwerp have invested in the Kieldrecht Lock, with Flanders assuming 75 per cent of the investment costs. For the project, the European Investment Bank and KBC Bank also provided €160.5 million and €71.3 million respectively. Kieldrecht started in 2011 and was led by THV Waaslandsluis, a cooperation between Jan De Nul NV, BAM Contractors, Herbosch-Kiere and Antwerpse Bouwwerken.
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