Berendrecht Lock
The Berendrecht Lock is currently the worlds largest Lock, giving access to the rightbank docks of the Port of Antwerp in Belgium.
Background
Post World War 2, work started on the Grote Doorsteek, an ambitious plan which ultimately resulted in the extension of the Antwerp docks on the right bank of the Scheldt to the Netherlands border. In 1967, the company completed the construction of the Zandvliet Lock (Zandvlietsluis), then the worlds largest lock at:
- Length: 500 metres (1,600 ft)
- Width: 57 metres (187 ft)
- Operational Depth (TAW): 13.58 metres (44.6 ft)
- Sill depth at mean high water: 17.75 metres (58.2 ft)
Construction
In 1989, needing to accomodate wider Post-Panamax ship, the company built a new lock to the south of the Zandvliets, the Berendrecht Lock, which at 68 metres (223 ft) is 11 metres (36 ft) wider. A Bascule bridge at either end of the lock, named the Oudendijk bridges, allow full road traffic access around the port.[1]
Completion of the Berendrecht Lock allowed the extended development of the leftbank docks complex, and later the creation of fast turnround tidal berths, both on the rightbank (Europa Terminal and the North Sea Terminal) and on the leftbank (Deurganck Dock).[2]
Dimensions
- Length: 500 metres (1,600 ft)
- Width: 68 metres (223 ft)
- Operational Depth (TAW): 13.5 metres (44 ft)
- Sill depth at mean high water: 17.75 metres (58.2 ft)
- No. Lock Gates: four, sliding lock gates
On both length and toal volume (length x breadth x the difference in water levels), the Berendrecht Lock is the largest in the world
New leftbank lock
In November 2011, work started on what will become the world's new largest dock on the left bank of the Scheldt. Based on the design of the Berendrecht Lock and scheduled to be completed in 2016, it has the same basic dimensions of the Berendrecht, but with an operational depth (TAW) of 17.8 metres (58 ft), which will make it the worlds largest lock. The new lock will be at the end of the Deurganck dock, to provide the Leftbank docks access to the sea between the Scheldt and the Waasland Canal. To construct the lock, 9.1 million m³ of earth will be excavated, and 22,000 tonnes of structural steel, three times the amount required to build the Eiffel Tower. Costing €340 million, of which 50% will be financed by the European Investment Bank, the Flemish KBC Bank is also making available a €81 million credit line, with the balance provided by the Antwerp Port Authority and the Flemish Government.[3]
New Panama Canal
In order to accomodate larger Post-Panamax vessels, it was announced in July 2009, that the Belgian dredging company Jan De Nul, together with a consortium of contractors consisting of the Spanish Sacyr Vallehermoso, the Italian Impregilo and the Panamanian company Grupo Cusa, had been awarded the contract to build the six new locks on the enlarged Panama Canal. The contract will result in $100 million in dredging works over the next few years for the Belgian company, and a great deal of work for the company's construction division. The design of the locks is a carbon copy of the Berendrecht Lock, which De Nul helped build. The company still has engineers and specialists who were part of that project.[4]
See also
- Louis Joubert Lock, Saint-Nazaire, France: Europe's largest dry dock
References
- ^ [www.heavymovablestructures.org/assets/technical_papers/0027.pdf "Bascule bridges at the Berendrecht lock in the port of Antwerp, Belgium"] (PDF). HeavyMovableStructures.org. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ Antwerp - Portrait of a Port, George van Cauwenbergh, Antwerpse Lloyd - Antwerpen 1983
- ^ "Works start on the world's largest lock at Antwerp Port". PortTechnology.org. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
- ^ "De Nul dredging company to build locks in Panama Canal". Flanders Today. 2009-07-17.
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