On June 3, 2009 the first boat passed through the new, second lock of the Evergem lock complex, which is good news for inland navigation in and around port of Ghent.

At the border of Evergem and Ghent, forty years after the opening of the Ringvaart (circular canal) a second lock has been built. For quite some time already, the comfort capacity of the first lock in Evergem had been exceeded entailing long delays for the bargees. The new lock is located right beside the existing lock and has a length of 230 metres and a width of 25 metres. Consequently, it is the largest Belgian inland navigation lock ever.

16 million tonnes
Last year, 16 million tonnes of goods were transported through Evergem lock, which is no less than 6 million more than a decade ago. 16 million tonnes represent 800,000 trucks that did not have to set out on the road. So the second lock is good news for inland navigation and for mobility.

New operations building
Not only the bargees will have to get used to the new lock. The inland navigation supervisors move into the brand-new operations building from where they operate both locks around the clock.

With the construction of the largest inland navigation lock in Belgium, the Upper-Scheldt department of Waterways and Seacanal NV contributes its mite to the accessibility of Ghent port. The new lock equally forms an important part of the Seine-Scheldt connection and could consequently count on European subsidies. The entire project of the new lock and the new operations building costs 32,700,000 Euros.