The Netherlands: The Dutch Council of State has overturned the stay of deepening work in the Western Scheldt river.

Work on deepening the navigation channel in the Western Scheldt will now be able to start on the Dutch side. Flanders has already completed the work on its side of the border within the agreed time limit. The Netherlands has until now remained in default, since under the terms of the Scheldt Treaties, the work should have been finished by the end of 2009.

According to the Antwerp port community, this deepening of the navigation channel will enable Antwerp to defend its position as Europe’s second-largest port, in the face of competition from Rotterdam and Hamburg.

The benefits of the deeper channel will be reinforced by the new upstream and downstream navigation regulations for the Western Scheldt, introduced by the Permanent Commission for Supervision of Scheldt Navigation in December 2009. The new regulations permit the largest container ships to reach the port of Antwerp in a safe manner.

The port of Antwerp has long pleaded for deepening of the Scheldt, so as to permit tide-independent navigation by ships with a draught of up to 13.10 metres (43 ft). Once the deepening work has been completed, seven out of ten ships that are currently tide-dependent are expected to be able to reach the port of Antwerp without tide constraints.