Antwerp Builds Major Lock to Handle Larger Ships

Antwerp has begun construction of a major lock that will allow the inland Belgian port to keep pace with the increasing size of containerships and boost its competitive position in the Le Havre-Hamburg port range.

The lock, the second to be built on the left bank of Scheldt River, is costing almost $460 million and will open at the start of 2016.

The European Investment Bank, the European Union’s long-term financing arm, is covering half the construction cost, with the balance provided by the Antwerp Port Authority, the regional Flanders government and a $110 million credit line from Belgium’s KBC Bank.

Construction of the lock follows on the deepening of the Scheldt, which enables Antwerp to more easily handle the largest container ships that previously could only reach the port at high tide.

Antwerp is Europe’s second largest container port after Rotterdam and Hamburg, handling 6.5 million 20-foot equivalent units in the first nine months of the year, up 3.1 percent on the same period in 2010. Total cargo volume rose 7.5 percent to 142 million metric tons in the first three quarters of 2011.

-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.