Albert Canal

The Albert Canal Albert Canal Flemish, French Albert Canal connects, as a man-made waterway, the two Belgian cities of Liege and Antwerp. The construction of this channel should allow the residents on the Meuse access to the North Sea, without having to go through the Netherlands.

The length of the channel is 129.5 km. It was built in the years 1930-1939. The official opening took place on 30 July 1939. Due to the Second World War, the canal was, however, used extensively until 1946. Before the opening took a boat trip from Antwerp to Liege seven days. Today, the average duration is 18 hours.

On his way to overcome six locks a height difference of about 56 m. In the Belgian border town of Kanne, south of the Dutch city of Maastricht, the Albert Canal breaks through a mountain massif of limestone, called marl there. This up to 65 m deep trench gave rise to the construction of Fort Eben-Emael. There, the channel runs more or less parallel to the Dutch border to the west of Maastricht.

History

The canal was originally designed for ships with a load of 2,000 tons and an annual transport volume of 15 million tons. 1969 already an amount of 40 million tons was achieved. To meet the increasing demands, the channel has been extended as well as bridges and locks adapted to new circumstances. Since its expansion in 1997, boats of Class VI approved, also for pushing units with four barges with a total of 9,000 tons of payload. The water depth is 3.40 m and the bridge headroom 6.70 m. The channel portion between Antwerp and the lock Wijnegem could not be widened because of the settled on the banks of industrial enterprises; why is there only the traffic with two barges possible. Originally a towboat channel should be built between Oelegem and Zandvliet, but this was not realized because of the many protests from environmental organizations.

The Albert Canal is also very important for the drinking water supply of the Antwerp region, as it is of the Meuse water that is supplied through the channel dependent.

Industry

Between the canal and the road was not enough space to create settlements, but it was sufficient for the establishment of several industrial companies. So some important businesses have been along the channel:

  • Herentals Industries
  • Industry Oevel - Geel
  • Ravenshout in Beringen, the second largest industrial area in Limburg
  • Genk -South, Port

Smuggle

In order to overcome the height difference of 56 m, six sluices were built with three locks. Each plant has two locks of 136 m × 16 m and a gate of 200 m × 24 m. The height difference is at the locks:

  • Wijnegem 5.70 m
  • Kwaadmechelen 10.0 m
  • Hasselt 10.10 m
  • Diepenbeek 10.10 m
  • Genk 10.10 m

Besides these locks are available in Lanaye still a lock installation, on the one reached after 1.9 km via the connecting channel channel van Ternaaien the Meuse at Maastricht. There are two locks of 55.0 m × 7.5 m and a lock of 136 m × 16 m, with a height difference of 13.94 meters. A fourth lock with 200 m × 25 m is under construction since 2011.

Traffic

In 2005, approximately 22.5 million tons of goods were transported by 34 117 ships.

Conjunction with other channels,

  • Bocholt - Herentals canal in Herentals
  • Canal Dessel -Turnhout pods with peas
  • Canal Dessel - Kwaadmechelen at Kwaadmechelen
  • Channel Briegden - Neerharen at Briegden
  • Netekanaal at Viersel
  • Channel van Ternaaien ( Albert Canal - Meuse )
Meuse (river) Olen, Belgium
41510
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