The Dutch Highways & Waterways Agency, Â Rijkswaterstaat, has said that it intends to award the OpenIJ consortium the contract to replace the lock, which is located at the entrance to the North Sea Canal. The new, larger lock will be 70m wide, 500m long and 18m deep and is designed to improve the accessibility of the port of Amsterdam and stimulate the local economy
The consortium will be responsible for design, construction, financing and maintenance of the new lock for a period of 26 years.
All construction activities will be carried out by BAM and Volker Wessels. The dredging activities will be undertaken by subcontractors Boskalis and Van Oord.
Construction will start early next year and the new lock will be available for shipping at the end of 2019.
The new Ijmond sea entrance is part of Rijkswaterstaat’s Locks Programme. This programme also includes five other projects: Limmel lock, the 2nd lock at Eefde, the 3rd Beatrix Lock, the Terneuzen sea lock and the Afsluitdijk.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
