The first phase of the Yangtze Canal widening project in the Netherlands has been completed.
The contractor consortium comprising Hakkers, De Klerk and Van Oord has delivered a new tug quay with twelve berths and shore power facilities. To facilitate this, the Yangtze Canal in the Port of Rotterdam was widened by 500 metres along its southern side.
The contractor consortium has now commenced work on the second phase of the project: the construction of 1,450 metres of quay wall with 20 new inland shipping berths, including shore power facilities.
Van Oord said that some of the largest container vessels sail through the Yangtze Canal to and from the APMT II and RWG terminals in the Prinses Amaliahaven. Both terminals are currently expanding their capacity.
As a result, traffic in the Yangtze Canal is expected to increase significantly in the near future, making it necessary to create additional space for the safe passage of increasingly larger vessels. To achieve this, the navigational channel (at seabed level) of the Yangtze Canal will be widened along its entire length over the coming years.
Van Oord said that once the project has been completed, the Yangtze Canal – and therefore access to the Maasvlakte – will be ready to safely and efficiently accommodate the next generation of container vessels currently under development.