New quay wall stimulates water transport over the Bossuit-Kortrijk canal

De Vlaamse Waterweg nv and the recycling company Devagro have officially inaugurated the renovated and extended quay wall along the Bossuit-Kortrijk canal in Harelbeke. Sweco was responsible for the inventory, preliminary and detailed design, and the environmental permit application, and assisted in the tendering and execution.

Nieuwe kaaimuur stimuleert watertransport over kanaal Bossuit-Kortrijk

The new quay in Harelbeke facilitates docking, loading, and unloading for ships. The existing quay of Devagro has not only been reinforced but also extended to 270 meters. In addition, a central zone has been reserved as a public quay, ready to accommodate a typical commercial inland vessel: approximately 105 meters long, 9.5 meters wide, and with a draft of 3 meters (class IV vessels). The goal is to provide companies located further away from the water with the opportunity to utilize inland waterway transport as well.

Our contribution to a thoughtful solution

An important consideration was the settlements that may occur. In this project, during the inventory phase, we examined several possible concepts. Using a trade-off matrix, the Flemish Waterway chose the current design: an anchored quay wall with a quay platform on gravel cores. In addition to the quay wall, Sweco also designed the sewerage system and studied the water management.

Waterway as a full-fledged alternative

The Flemish government wants to encourage companies to transport their goods more frequently by water. “That helps to keep trucks off the roads and solve traffic problems,” says CEO Chris Danckaerts of De Vlaamse Waterweg nv. “A good loading and unloading station is a requirement, and that is now available thanks to this quay wall.”

“Until now, only the company Devagro has used the existing quay wall. They indicated that the quay was no longer sufficient. So we made a plan to renew the outdated wall but also to expand it. From 120 to 270 meters. Now, every company in the area can use the quay wall.”

Devagro is already a fan. “We can now make even more use of inland waterway transport,” says director Yves Degezelle. “It is another step towards more sustainable transport. In a recent project, we transported no less than 40,000 tons from our quay in Harelbeke. By choosing inland waterway transport instead of road transport, we took 1,400 trucks off the road.”

Photo Credit: © De Vlaamse Waterweg nv

High return on investment

Companies that want to include inland waterway transport in their logistics chain can turn to De Vlaamse Waterweg nv for the construction of a loading and unloading installation through a public-private partnership (PPP). In this partnership, De Vlaamse Waterweg nv finances 80% of the infrastructure, while the company covers 20%. The company is also responsible for the equipment of the quay and the loading and unloading installations. In return, the company commits to transporting a certain amount of goods via the waterway for ten years.

Thanks to the quay wall program, nearly 579 million tons have been shipped via the quay walls resulting from this project in the past 25 years. The quay wall program is very successful and has led to an increase in the use of inland waterway transport. Moreover, these results have a direct impact on our overloaded road network. Since the start of the program, nearly 29 million truck trips have been avoided.

Inland navigation project of the century

The finalization of the Seine Schelde Vlaanderen inland waterway project is planned for 2030. In this context, Sweco is contributing to the integral design for the future of the Bossuit-Kortrijk canal. With the upgrading of that canal, a full-fledged class Va connection will be realized between the Leie and the Upper Scheldt.

Sweco is involved in the design of solutions for the widening and deepening of the existing waterways, the raising of bridges, and the modernization of several lock complexes in Flanders. This mainly concerns the stretch along the Leie between Wervik and Ghent, but also includes several connecting waterways.

Furthermore, Sweco is involved in the studies for the new Seine-North Europe canal. This is part of the European initiative to connect Belgium and France with each other and the rest of Europe through a network that can handle larger freight transport by inland vessels. This will create a new water highway for container and push navigation up to 4,500 tons.