Juliana Canal blocked until March 2, two extra days to circumnavigate

Rijkswaterstaat The Juliana Canal is being widened and deepened

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 09:22

The Juliana Canal in Limburg was blocked until March 2, after water suddenly flowed under the sheet pile wall during work yesterday. Rijkswaterstaat will use the coming days to restore the situation and ensure safety.

Yesterday morning around 8 a.m., a huge construction site in the Juliana Canal was full of water. The soil under the sheet pile wall would have been washed away. The people who were working in the ‘construction pit’ were able to get themselves to safety in time and then shipping traffic was halted.

Two days extra detour

The Juliana Canal is heavily used and the blockage will therefore have major consequences for shipping traffic in the coming days. “Ships have to detour via the Albert Canal in Belgium. That is an extra two days of sailing,” says a spokesman for Rijkswaterstaat.

The Juliana Canal is part of the so-called Maasroute, an important shipping route to ports in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Since last year, work has been underway to make the route suitable for larger inland vessels. The canal will be widened and deepened for this purpose.

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