Overnight mooring facility Spijk
By building a new mooring facility for barge vessels at Spijk (near Lobith), we seek to improve the navigability on the Waal river, at the cross-border section between the Netherlands and Germany.
The facility will consist of 48-50 mooring places for barges (Va up to 135 m) , thus contributing to the safety and security for the increasing (international) barge transportation on the Waal river and the corresponding corridors (North-Sea Baltic Corridor and Rhine–Alpine Corridor).
The Rhine river and the Waal river
The Rhine river and the Waal river are the busiest inland waterways in Western Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands. The cross-border section between these countries, Lobith, is one of more intensively used sections on the Rhine-Alpine and North Sea-Baltic corridor.
These 2 interconnected inland waterways are especially important for container transport between the North Sea and the European inland.
A Pressing need for mooring facilities
As both the size and the number of barges passing Lobith is increasing, there is a pressing need for more mooring facilities for skippers to comply with resting times and to secure safe navigation. Currently, the Waal, and the Lobith area in particular, is dealing with a lack of safe and good quality mooring facilities.
The new mooring facility at Spijk will improve the navigability and transportation on the Waal river.
An increase of cargo ships
The project contributes to the development of European transport corridors. In order to stimulate the use by cargo shipping and to ensure that this important part of the river is able to cope with the increasing number of cargo ships, overnight ports at regular distances from each other are indispensable.
The construction of such ports is thus in the interest of Europe (CEF) and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (and therefore Rijkswaterstaat).
The Global Project
This project is part of and therefore contributes to The Global Project. It is led by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, with the support of North Rhine-Westphalia. The project aims to upgrade the Waal by removing the current bottlenecks, enhancing the capacity of the river, and improving navigation conditions.
Due to the increasing numbers of barges transporting goods, these upgrades are necessary.
Digital museum
During archaeological research at the location of the future facility many interesting items were found, for example an encampment from the 80-year war with Spain and an old brick factory. We launched an online museum in June 2022 that showcases the items that were found and tells the story behind them.
More information can be found in the museum.
Project period
2020 - 2023
European Programme
Partners
Rijkswaterstaat is the only project partner. However, there are some other important stakeholders, such as the province of Gelderland, municipality of Zevenaar and the water board Rijn and IJssel.
