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Volkerak Locks

Volkerak Locks

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Volkerak Locks

Name: Volkerak Locks
Rating: 2

Recommended by 7 hikers

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Location: Moerdijk, North Brabant, Netherlands

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Best Hikes to Volkerak Locks

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1. Willemstad Marina – Town Hall. loop from Helwijk

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2. Raadhuis. – View of Willemstad loop from Willemstad

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3. Willemstad Marina – Town Hall. loop from Heijningen

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Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Tips

Hebari Hike&Bike

March 26, 2025

The Volkerak locks are an impressive piece of road and hydraulic engineering. Here is a bit of history.

The Volkerak locks, west of Willemstad, were built as part of the Delta Plan. A secondary dam had to be built in the Volkerak to close off the Oosterschelde and the Haringvliet. However, the closing off of the Volkerak, which was planned in 1969, would also block an important shipping route between Rotterdam / Germany and Antwerp / France. It was therefore decided to build a lock complex in the dam to be constructed.
The first two inland waterway locks were built in 1964. In 1977, the complex was expanded to the northwest with an additional lock for inland shipping, an inlet lock and finally a separate recreational lock. Bridges had already been built over the newly constructed locks: a fixed bridge and a double movable bascule bridge over the southern lock for commercial shipping. South of the locks are various service houses and a workshop annex storage area for the emergency power supply and an underlying nuclear shelter. On the south bank of the Volkerak, at the beginning of the lock, there is a lookout tower, with a storage area for the reserve gates underneath. In addition, a new lock keeper's office was built around 2012; the old lock keeper's house between the eastern and middle locks was demolished shortly afterwards. At some distance from the locks on the south bank, there is another office and a door storage / workshop. In 1988, the complex was mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest inland shipping object in the world.

The commercial shipping locks are each 325 metres long and 24 metres wide. The locks are constructed of concrete and each has four pairs of steel doors; two pairs for ebb and two pairs for flood.
Source: sluizenenstuwen.nl

Translated by Google •

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Elevation 50 m

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Saturday 1 November

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Max wind speed: 22.0 km/h

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Location: Moerdijk, North Brabant, Netherlands

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Volkerak Locks

1. Willemstad Marina – Town Hall. loop from Helwijk

2. Raadhuis. – View of Willemstad loop from Willemstad

3. Willemstad Marina – Town Hall. loop from Heijningen

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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