Kerkhove (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Flemish Waterway has set up an information market about the new lock building in Kerkhove near Avelgem. The lock installation undergoes restoration improvements to support bigger ships through the facility. The long-term plan requires modifications to all 3 locks of the Upper Scheldt.
Kerkhove residents near Avelgem gained insights about the new lock construction through an information market sponsored by the Flemish Waterway. The lock system will be renovated to welcome ships with increased dimensions, while the current lock structure will receive updates.
The planned updates belong to a major program which targets the modernization of all three lock systems located on the Upper Scheldt canal between Ghent and Wallonia and France. Water transportation efficiency enhancement drives the Flemish Waterway to update their canal infrastructure.
“The weirs have already been renovated, but we also want to tackle the lock complexes themselves and build additional locks ourselves,”
explains Geert Weymeis of the Flemish Waterway.
The locks were built from 1920 onwards and they are not suitable for large ships. The size of the ships will only increase in the future.
In Kerkhove we will renovate the existing lock and in the long term a new lock will be added. We will fit it between the weirs that regulate the water level and the existing lock,
Weymeis explains to the people.
The plans should make it possible to let ships of 185 meters long pass. These ships can carry around 220 trucks. We have ambitions and we want to realize them from next year.
Why is the upper Scheldt canal lock modernization necessary?
The Upper Scheldt Canal operates as an important freight corridor between Ghent and Wallonia and France where modernization limitations restrict its yearly traffic to 10 million tons. Constructing the locks in the 1920s led to insufficient design which limited vessels to a maximum size of 110 meters and a weight of 1,150 tons.
The future developments of the Flemish Waterway focus on canal upgrades to allow Class Va standard 185-meter ships to transport cargoes of 2,500–3,000 tons that equivalent to 220 trucks per journey. Kerkhove’s lock renovation belongs to a €150 million project that will modernize all three Upper Scheldt lock facilities (Asper, Oudenaarde, and Kerkhove) until 2030.
Upgrading these bottlenecks is essential because failure to do so could cause freight to shift to roads which would reduce efficiency through higher congestion and increased emissions.
The Albert Canal expansion in Flanders served as a similar project that achieved a 20% increase in cargo numbers, proving that modernized water channels provide both economic and environmental advantages. The Kerkhove lock improvements conform to the EU Green Deal by targeting the goal of moving 30% of road freight onto waterways by 2030.
