The port of Antwerp gave a qualified welcome to the Dutch government's decision to deepen the river Scheldt, the port’s access to the North Sea.

The Dutch cabinet agreed Friday to a controversial plan to breach dykes and flood 320 hectares of farmland reclaimed from the sea to allow the deepening of the stretch of river that passes through Dutch territory.

Without deepening, the largest container ships can reach Antwerp, Belgium's biggest port, only at high tide.

The port of Antwerp said it welcomes the Dutch government's decision to implement a 2005 Treaty committing it to complete dredging of the western Scheldt by 2009. "However there is no euphoria," the port said.

"We'll save the real celebrations until the dredging work has been completed and the largest ships can reach Antwerp more easily," said Antwerp's port alderman Mar Van Peel.

The port has lobbied for the Scheldt to be deepened to allow independent navigation by ships with a draft of up to 43 feet.

Once the deepening is completed "seven out of ten ships that currently face problems will be able to reach the port of Antwerp without tide constraints, which is of crucial importance for the further economic development of the port," the port authority said.

The dredging, which must be approved by the Dutch parliament, has been fiercely opposed by local farmers and environmentalists.

The delay in deepening work was seen by some in the Antwerp shipping community as a ploy to enhance the position of Rotterdam as it expands its container terminals to handle the latest generation of mega-box ships.

Antwerp, Europe's third largest box hub, handled 3.6 million 20-foot equivalent units in the first half of 2009, down 18.5 percent on the same period in 2008. Rotterdam, Europe's top container port, saw box traffic decline 15 percent in the first half to 4.6 million TEUs.

source: The Journal of Commerce