On Friday, in the Port of Antwerp in Belgium, the King of Belgium officially opened the Kieldrecht lock for commercial navigation; in the presence of the Port Company and the Department of Maritime Access, the King pushed the button at exactly 10:20 that opened the floodgates for the first ship, Grande Lagos of Grimaldi armaments, symbolically a company established in the Port of Waasland.
The Kieldrecht lock connects Deurganckdok, the tidal basin which hosts container ships, to Waasland Canal, linking with other basins of the Waasland Port on the left bank of the Scheldt in Antwerp. The lock/sluice was built because the Kallo lock could not accommodate commercial vessels that have become ever larger. With a width of 68m, a length of 500m and a depth of 27m, the Kieldrecht Lock can be considered now as the greatest in the world, followed closely by the Berendrecht Lock, the same type of lock, which is also located in the Port of Antwerp, and the new locks in the Panama Canal, which is to be officially opened on 26 June this year.
Construction of the Kieldrecht Lock began in 2011 under the authority of the A.M. Waaslandsluis, a collaboration between Jan De Nul N.V., BAM Contractors, Herbosch-Kiere and Antwerpse Bouwwerken. The lock is in many ways a superlative: a total of 5,500,000 m³ of earth were excavated, 800,000 m³ of poured concrete and 55,000 tonnes of reinforced steel installed. In addition, 12,000 tons of steel were used in the four lock gates and two bascule bridges.
Photo by John Gundlach / Flying Holland: Port of Antwerp in Belgium
