The Albert Canal was constructed between 1930 and 1939. It was named after the Belgian King Albert I, who laid the foundation stone for the canal construction on May 31, 1930.[1] It was officially opened on July 30, 1939. Before that, a boat trip from Antwerp to Liège took seven days, since then it has taken less than one day. On May 10th and 11th, 1940, the first two days of the western campaign, a Wehrmacht commando captured Fort Eben-Emael after an airborne operation. On May 10, Dutch soldiers blew up almost all the bridges over the Albert Canal; two bridges (in Vroenhoven and Veldwezelt) were captured by the Wehrmacht intact. On May 14, 1940, the Netherlands capitulated and the Wehrmacht occupied the country. After the Second World War, there were bridges in the canal that Wehrmacht soldiers had blown up when they retreated in 1944. In 1946 the canal was reopened.
The canal was originally designed for ships with a load of 2,000 tons and an annual transport volume of 15 million tons. In 1969, 40 million tons were transported. The canal was expanded and bridges and locks were adapted to the conditions of the time in order to be able to navigate it with larger ships. Since its expansion in 1997 ships of ship class VI have been approved, also for push convoys with four lighters with a total payload of 9,000 tons. The water depth is 3.4 meters and the bridge clearance is 6.7 meters. The canal section between Antwerp and the Wijnegem lock could not be widened because of the industrial companies located on the bank; therefore only traffic with two lighters is possible there. There were considerations to build an almost 30 km long push boat canal between Oelegem and Zandvliet; the plan was not implemented after objections from environmental organizations.