& the Economy
The Afsluitdijk has been connecting the Netherlands for ninety years and is key to the economic development of the northern provinces. Every day, twenty thousand cars use the causeway.
As part of the renovation of the Afsluitdijk, the motorway is being overhauled and projects initiated to give the northern economy a boost in the areas of tourism, energy and nature. The business community has been lobbying for a decade to have the Lorentz lock in the Afsluitdijk widened. They see the renovation of the dyke as the perfect opportunity to do this. It is now or never.
How will a wider lock impact the local and national economy?
The economic value of the widened lock is substantial. Both for shipyards in the IJsselmeer area and the many dedicated suppliers and for the hinterland, from Kampen to Meppel. An economic impact study from 2016 calculated an employment growth of three thousand jobs in the IJsselmeer area. Owing to the wider lock, dock industries and shipyards will have room to grow and have stated they will invest 110 million euros extra.
In the future, the widened lock at Kornwerderzand will offer space for the ever-wider coastal vessels that are built in Kampen, Urk and Lemmer. Moreover, cargo ships can directly sail from the Baltic region to the ports of Kampen and Lelystad. Goods will no longer have to be transported from and to Rotterdam first. This saves time and money and relieves the busy seaports and road transport.
‘Not only the yachts will grow, the economy will too’
Back in 1932, when the Afsluitdijk was put into service, De Vries Scheepsbouw was already building yachts. While the boats kept growing – from ten to 110 metres – the locks in the dyke did not change at all. The ships sail via Lelystad and Amsterdam, eventually heading out to open sea at Harlingen – just twenty kilometres from the shipyard.
If they take a detour via the IJsselmeer and the IJ, it requires precision to manoeuvre the yachts through locks and under bridges. If the yachts are built only a fraction longer, and consequently wider and deeper, this alternative passage is also too narrow. To be able to keep expanding, widening the Lorentz lock at Kornwerderzand is a must, according to Sijbrand de Vries, managing director of the yard at Makkum.
‘It is imperative that the infrastructure grows parallel to the industry’
Sijbrand de Vries,
director De Vries Scheepsbouw
A wider Lorentz lock not only means larger yachts can be built in Makkum. The yachts that were built before can come back for maintenance. Due to the detour they are forced to take now, often without a screw propeller under the boat, this rarely happens.
Around 2028, the widened lock will be accessible to ships with a 4.7-metre draught. The width will go from 14 to 25 metres. Total investments amount to two hundred million euros. The region contributes 88.5 million euros, which includes the contribution by the business community.
The ‘super yacht mystery’
As the sign on the photograph indicates, it is strictly forbidden to show even a detail like a porthole of a super yacht. Anything identifiable about a yacht can be traced back to the name of the ship – so to the owner - and is strictly prohibited to be photographed or filmed. For us as makers this is quite a challenge, because how can you make something visible that must remain invisible? How can you show Wendy is working on super yachts if this cannot be shown?
We chose to reduce big to extremely small. Thanks to the shipyard’s efforts, we get the owner’s permission to shoot in the engine room, but under the strict condition that nothing will be identifiable. Along the flank of the hull, we walk into a yacht of more than a hundred metres long. Through a maze of narrow corridors and staircases, we arrive at Wendy’s domain: the engine room. Everything in this room is enormous: pipes, bolts and machines. Against the ship’s side, we see a set of small pipes all leading to the same machine block. To the centimetre, Cynthia adjusts the frame, so we can still shoot fifty square centimetres to show how a proud Wendy works on her yacht.
‘Waterway transportation is the future’
A wider lock at Kornwerderzand means a world of difference to the harbour area of Port of Zwolle, economically one of the fastest growing regions in the Netherlands. Bert Weever, owner of Graansloot Kampen, a company storing and handling grain, has been lobbying for a decade to have the lock widened.
What will Kampen gain by a wider lock?
‘The new lock will be eleven metres wider, enabling larger ships to moor further inland. This means that in the port of Kampen we can simultaneously process larger freight flows and one traffic flow can be omitted. The cargo no longer has to be transported by inland vessels or trucks from the sea ports to the hinterland. This saves time and money.’
Will the port of Kampen compete with Rotterdam and Amsterdam?
‘No, even if the lock is widened, large sea ships still can’t reach Kampen. This involves short-sea ships that are used for shorter distances, mostly for freight traffic over water within Europa. These are new trade flows that are on the rise and we in Kampen can benefit from, without interfering with other ports.’
‘After all, trade flows are shifting. In recent years, we see more and more agricultural products like grain and soy coming from Europe, because there’s a growing demand for non-modified and biological products. This shifts the trade flow from the US or Brazil to Europe’.
As an entrepreneur, you’ve been lobbying for a decade to have the lock widened. What keeps you going?
‘A wider lock will be beneficial to the regional economy, it will create jobs and it is beneficial to the environment. You see, I believe in waterway transportation. Twenty years ago, when I bought Graansloot, we stored thirty thousand tonnes, which by now has increased tenfold. This way, I prove that transport over water can compete with road transport. What’s most important is that transportation by ship is substantially less polluting. Not because ships are clean; it’s connected with the size of the freight a ship can transport versus the use of diesel per weight unit compared with trucks. The coming years, a lot has to be done in terms of making waterway transportation sustainable. Hydrogen plays a key role in this process. In the port of Kampen, there are concrete plans to produce green hydrogen for the shipping industry. Emission-free sailing is the future goal.’
Is there a chance the project will be cancelled?
‘We, the industry, really stick out our necks. We promised to make a voluntary contribution to the construction of the lock. I made a tour along all the involved companies in Kampen and they all fully endorse it. Anticipating a wider lock, Kampen laid out a second port and other entrepreneurs beside myself have invested in business expansion. The largest risk is carried by the province of Friesland: they have to pre-invest and can subsequently cash the voluntary market contribution. I hope they will reach a positive decision on this, with or without the cooperation of other provinces and the state.’
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