Home » World’s Largest Canal Lock Unveiled in Netherlands

The world’s largest canal lock has been inaugurated at Ijmuiden, a small port city, in the Port of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The sea lock was inaugurated by Dutch King Willen-Alexander.
The 500-meter (1,640-feet) long and 70-meter wide sluice replaces a smaller, nearly 100-year-old one at Ijmuiden, a small port city connecting the North Sea Canal to the port of Amsterdam.
Construction on the massive infrastructure project began in 2016 and was meant to be done by 2019. It also went over the initially planned budget by around €300 million ($338 million).

The Ijmuiden lock was designed to allow large, modern cargo ships to reach the port of Amsterdam.
“Amsterdam has just been given a bigger front door,” said Jaap Zeilmaker of the Dutch waterways agency Rijkswaterstaat.
The structure is also deep enough that ships will no longer have to wait for a favorable water level to enter the canal.
“The new sluice will not just benefit the economy, but thanks to the technical expertise involved sea level rise and the influx of saltwater have also been taken into account,” Zeilmaker added.
The older structure, Noordersluis (northern lock), was built in 1929 and had to be replaced.
Newspaper Het Parool quoted state harbormaster Milembe Mateyo as saying that several malfunctions at the Noordersluis were recorded in recent years. “It’s an old beast,” she said.
With almost nine meters above the sea leave, the structure is also a defense against the threat of flooding.

In 2018, then-Infrastructure Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said that she had to increase the budget for the project owing to setbacks in construction.
According to Dutch media reports, contractors BAM and VolkerWessels said there were about 200 improvements and changes to the design during the construction period.
The two construction companies blame Rijkswaterstaat for the ambitious initial design. Dutch trade magazine Cobouw reported that BAM and VolkerWessels were filing compensation claims against the waterways agency.

The Indira Gandhi Canal(originally, Rajasthan Canal) is the longest canal of India. It starts from the Harike Barrage at Harike, a few kilometers below the confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers in the Indian state of Punjab and terminates in irrigation facilities in the Thar Desert in the north west of Rajasthan state.
Previously known as the Rajasthan Canal, it was renamed the Indira Gandhi Canal on 2 November 1984 following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

World’s Largest Canal Lock Unveiled in Netherlands