Amsterdam Approves New Sea Lock

The City Council of Amsterdam has approved plans for accelerated construction of a new large-scale sea lock in the city, helping to safeguard the accessibility to the city’s ports. The new sea lock will be located in the port city of Ijmuiden – the mouth of the North Sea Canal leading to the country’s capital.

The proposed plan received confirmation of one-off funding this month, allowing construction to begin soon.

Designed to help protect the ports and the businesses alongside the North Sea Canal, the new sea lock is timely with the city’s port expecting a bumper year in 2015. After receiving 134 calls from cruise ships this year, Amsterdam will be visited 143 times in 2015 – just one trip shy of the city’s all-time record set in 2012.

Port of Amsterdam CEO Dertje Meijer: “Great news! The new, larger sea lock will be good for the port, the region and the business community in the area. With this decision, the City Council of Amsterdam is investing in the future and in sustainable growth for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.”

The accelerated project is expected to help boost the economy of the port region and the Netherlands as a whole.

To aid with the acceleration of construction, the project is being planned and developed by Port of Amsterdam in partnership of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Province of North Holland, the City of Amsterdam, the Municipality of Velsen and the Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management.

The project has received an EU subsidy for the planning study phase as part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme.

Images sourced via Flickr Creative Commons. Credits: Cruise Dog, Bert Kaufmann