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First lock gate new sea lock IJmuiden in place
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First lock gate new sea lock IJmuiden in place
News
24 September 2020

This week, the first lock gate of the new sea lock IJmuiden was successfully brought into place. The door has been sailed in with extreme precision into the door socket of the outer head. The beautiful late summer weather at the beginning of the week was ideal for moving the door. The entire operation took 72 hours.

The door, 72 metres long, 11 metres wide and 24 metres high, had been in the gully on the east side (canal side) since its arrival in IJmuiden at the beginning of 2019. Here, the door was fitted with all the necessary technical installations, which were subsequently tested. Before the door could be dragged to its final position in the outer head, 600,000 m3 of sand was dug out of the lock chamber to bring it to depth. This work was recently completed.

Upper and lower trolley

The installation of the door was done in stages. First, the door with a weight of 3000 tons was moved to the most southwestern bollard in front of the outer head. Next, the lock door was turned 90 degrees around its axis by means of large winches and maneuvered into the door shaft. After the door was in the right position, in the next phase the lock gate was sunk and coupled to the top trolley. This top trolley is the door's drive unit. The door was then further lowered and connected to the bottom trolley. This bottom trolley ensures that the door can run on a rail on the threshold of the sea lock when the door is opened and closed. The operation of the door will be tested in the coming months. In addition to its function as an access gate to the sea lock, the door is also part of the future flood defence system, which is one step closer.

Two more lock gates

The two other lock gates in front of the sea lock are now temporarily parked in the Amerikahaven, awaiting completion of the construction of the inner head gate. These doors have also been completed and tested. As soon as it is possible to place the doors in the inner head gate, they will be transported from the Amerikahaven to the new sea lock in IJmuiden.

New sea lock IJmuiden

In order to accommodate ever-increasing sea-going vessels, the largest sea lock in the world has been under construction in IJmuiden since 2016. The new lock will be 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep. The project is a joint venture between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the province of North Holland, the municipality of Amsterdam, Port of Amsterdam and the municipality of Velsen. Contractor consortium OpenIJ (VolkerWessels and BAM) is building the new sea lock on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat. The lock is expected to come into operation in early 2022.

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