They will serve as doors within the new sea-lock at Ijmuiden, which is being built by the OpenIJ consortium. The consortium is made up of BAM-PGGM, VolkerWessels and DIF, with construction carried out by a joint venture of BAM Infra and VolkerWessels joint venture and dredging undertaken by subcontractors Van Oord and Boskalis.
 The consignment includes two for operational use - for which the lock gate chamber at the outer head is now being installed in Ijmuiden - and a reserve.
Each is 72m long, 24m high and 11m wide and is being carried on a ‘heavy-duty’ ship that is 45m wide – so they stick out significantly.
Work has been under way since 2016 to build the record-breaking lock to accommodate ever-larger seagoing vessels. The sea lock provides tide-independent access for ports and companies along the North Sea Canal. It will be 500m long, 70m wide and 18m deep. The OpenIJ C consortium, which is building the new sealock for Rijkswaterstaat, which is part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management and responsible for the design, construction, management and maintenance of the main infrastructure facilities in the Netherlands. The project is a joint initiative between the ministry, the province of Noord-Holland, the municipalities of Amsterdam and Velse and the Port of Amsterdam.
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