Dec 7, 2023 at 4:50 PM Update: 11 minutes ago
About three hundred inland vessels, including Dutch ones, are making only limited progress due to a wild strike by lock keepers in Flanders that has lasted days. The skippers are tired of waiting and are now rebelling themselves.
On Monday morning, the lock keepers in Flanders started a wildcat strike at the locks of Genk, Hasselt and Evergem, among others. The port services are on strike against reforms to the employment conditions of Flemish civil servants.
As a result, approximately three hundred inland vessels are now idle, a significant portion of which are Dutch. The Royal Inland Shipping Netherlands (KBN) does not know exactly how many Dutch ships are at a standstill, but it receives telephone calls every day from worried skippers.
“We are being greatly affected by the complete stagnation of water transport,” says Leny van Toorenburg of the KBN. Ships carrying perishable goods are stuck. “In any case, everyone now has to wait longer for goods.”
“This delay affects skippers economically, but also socially,” Van Toorenburg continues. The personnel costs on board continue as normal. And the question remains whether the skippers will finish their jobs before Christmas.
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Skippers honk, get stones back
The skippers have now expressed their dissatisfaction in various ways. On Wednesday evening they honked their horns for a while near Willebroek. Residents responded by throwing stones at the ships. Skippers have blocked a street in Hasselt.
It has not yet led to a breakthrough. “Every now and then a bridge or lock opens for a while, but then the ships sail into the next trap,” says Van Toorenburg.
“We have never experienced such a prolonged situation in such a large area,” she says. The KBN sent a letter to outgoing Minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management) on Thursday to do something about the situation.
Beeld: Getty Images
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2023-12-07 15:50:24
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