New sea lock to protect Amsterdam from rising water levels approved

On Wednesday evening the Amsterdam City Council almost unanimously approved port Alderman Kajsa Ollongren's (D66) proposal for the construction of a new sea lock in IJmuiden. Amsterdam will contribute a maximum of 105.25 million euro to the project. According to the municipality, the accelerated construction of the lock in the Noordzee canal will be good for the economy in the metropolitan port and the Amsterdam region. The Noordesluis from 1929, for years the largest sea lock in the world, was scheduled to be replaced in 2029. This will now be done in 2019. The total cost for the new sea lock is estimated at 880 million euro. Next year the Rijkswaterstaat will appoint a construction consortium that will build the new sea lock in the Noordszee canal. It will be 500 meters long, 18 meters deep and up to 70 meters wide. The accelerated build is a necessity because, according to the city council and the Port Authority, the technical condition of the existing lock is critical. It is possible that it will reach its maximum capacity of 95 million tons by 2018. With the new larger and wider lock, the transshipment in the port of Amsterdam can continue to grow to 125 million tons. Only the Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren) voted against the construction of a new sea lock. With the climate crisis in mind, the party "does not want to invest in a port that thrives on coal and oil". Groenlinks and SP only voted for the construction after the councilor promised to work towards the sustainability of the harbor.