New Lock to Allow Container and Bulk Freight Vessels Access to Amsterdam Port

NETHERLANDS – Work is due to start on a replacement sea lock for the port of Ijmuiden after final details of the public-private partnership (PPP) were ratified this week. After almost 100 years in operation the current northern lock is to be replaced by a new 70 metre wide, 500 metre long and 18 metre deep lock system to ensure that the Amsterdam port area remains accessible for the new generation of medium sized container and bulk freight vessels. The larger, tide-independent lock will also reduce waiting times for ships and provide opportunities for future capacity expansion.

Management, engineering and development consultants Mott MacDonald have acted as lenders’ technical advisor to the OpenIJ consortium on the project. Construction is due to commence in early 2016, with the new lock available for shipping by the end of 2019. The new lock will then be maintained by OpenIJ for 26 years. The OpenIJ consortium consists of BAM-PGGM, VolkerWessels - DIF with the dredging activities to be carried out by subcontractors Van Oord and Boskalis.

The €500 million financing of the deal utilises bank loan facilities which include interests such as the European Investment Bank, DZ Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, SMBC, BTMU and the Unicredit Bank. Some of the funding has been input from the European Union TEN-T programme. Mott MacDonald provided due diligence and technical reports to support financial closure and will now provide construction monitoring services to help the project stay on programme and budget. Joost van Loon, Mott MacDonald’s project director, said:

“This project builds on Mott MacDonald’s previous infrastructure experience in the Netherlands and Belgium, where we are one of the leading providers of technical advice having worked on over 20 PPP schemes.”