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Royers Lock
The Royers lock (Dutch Royerssluis) is a tidal lock located in Belgium, giving access to the right bank docks in the Port of Antwerp and the Albert Canal. Although it was built for sea-going vessels, it is now mostly used by riverboats. The construction of the lock started in 1893 and was finished in 1908. The lock is long and wide. The operational depth (TAW) is . The lock was built to accommodate the extension of the docklands towards the north. Both the Bonaparte lock (Dutch: bonapartesluis) and the Kattendijk lock (Dutch: kattendijksluis) would not be able to cope with the growing traffic and the increasing size of new ocean ships. The lock is named after the Antwerp city engineer Gustaaf Royers (1848–1923). The lock has three sliding gates constructed out of steel with caissons that allow to take ballast. The gates slide on a system of rollers on rails at the bottom at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the lock and disappear into special storage chamber or rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lock (water Transport)
A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is the chamber itself (usually then called a caisson) that rises and falls. Locks are used to make a river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a more direct route to be taken. Pound lock A ''pound lock'' is most commonly used on canals and rivers today. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound. In contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as a flash lock. Pound locks were first used in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), having been pioneered by the Song politician and nava ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of . Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dock (maritime)
A dock (from Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language. "Dock" may also refer to a dockyard (also known as a shipyard) where the loading, unloading, building, or repairing of ships occurs. History The earliest known docks were those discovered in Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor, of Pharaoh Khufu, dating from c.2500 BC located on the Red Sea coast. Archaeologists also discovered anchors and storage jars near the site. A dock from Lothal in India dates from 2400 BC and was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt. Modern oceanographers have observed that the ancient Harappans must have possessed great knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever-shifting course of the Saba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Of Antwerp
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is the port of the City of Antwerp. It is located in Flanders (Belgium), mainly in the province of Antwerp but also partially in the province of East Flanders. It is a seaport in the heart of Europe accessible to capesize ships. It is Europe’s second-largest seaport, after Rotterdam. Antwerp stands at the upper end of the tidal estuary of the Scheldt. The estuary is navigable by ships of more than 100,000 Gross Tons as far as 80 km inland. Like the Port of Hamburg, the Port of Antwerp's inland location provides a more central location in Europe than the majority of North Sea ports. Antwerp's docks are connected to the hinterland by rail, road, and river and canal waterways. As a result, the port of Antwerp has become one of Europe's largest seaports, ranking second behind Rotterdam by total freight shipped. Its international rankings vary from 11th to 20th ( AAPA). In 2012, the Port of Antwerp handled 14,220 sea trade ships (190.8 millio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Canal
The Albert Canal (, ) is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, which was named for King Albert I of Belgium. The Albert Canal connects Antwerp with Liège, and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. It also connects with the Dessel–Turnhout–Schoten Canal, and its total length is . Size and geography The Albert Canal has a standard depth of and an overhead clearance of . To allow four-stacked intermodal container, container traffic, bridges over the canal are currently being heightened to allow for a overhead. Between Antwerp and Liège, there is a difference in elevation of , and six sets of canal locks were needed to overcome this difference. Five canal locks each have a lift of , and these are located in Genk, Diepenbeek, Hasselt, Kwaadmechelen, and Olen, Belgium. The sixth lock at Wijnegem has a lift of . During most of the 1930s, before the completion of the Albert Canal, it took about seven days to travel from Antwerp to Liège by water. In the 21st cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riverboat
A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such as lake or harbour tour boats. As larger water craft, virtually all riverboats are especially designed and constructed, or alternatively, constructed with special-purpose features that optimize them as riverine or lake service craft, for instance, dredgers, survey boats, fisheries management craft, fireboats and law enforcement patrol craft. Design differences Riverboats are usually less sturdy than ships built for the open seas, with limited navigational and rescue equipment, as they do not have to withstand the high winds or large waves characteristic to large lakes, seas or oceans. They can thus be built from light composite materials. They are limited in size by width and depth of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson ( or ; borrowed from French ''caisson'', from Italian ''cassone'', meaning ''large box'', an augmentative of ''cassa'') is a watertight retaining structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. Caissons are constructed in such a way that the water can be pumped out, keeping the work environment dry. When piers are being built using an open caisson, and it is not practical to reach suitable soil, friction pilings may be driven to form a suitable sub-foundation. These piles are connected by a foundation pad upon which the column pier is erected. Caisson engineering has been used at least since the 18th century, and was notably used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was completed in 1883. Types To install a caisson in place, it is brought down through soft mud until a suitable foundation material is encountered. While bedrock is pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballast Tank
A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or list, to provide a more even load distribution along the hull to reduce structural hogging or sagging stresses, or to increase draft, as in a semi-submersible vessel or platform, or a SWATH, to improve seakeeping. Using water in a tank provides easier weight adjustment than the stone or iron ballast used in older vessels, and makes it easy for the crew to reduce a vessel's draft when it enters shallower water, by temporarily pumping out ballast. Airships use ballast tanks mainly to control buoyancy and correct trim. History The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or argonaut octopus. The concept has been invented and reinvented many times by humans to serve a variety of pur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
