Large shipping route Dunkirk-Scheldt
The large shipping route Dunkirk-Schelde ( French Liaison à grand gabarit Dunkerque-Escaut ) is a French inland waterway in the Hauts-de-France region , which has been expanded for cargo ships and push convoys with a loading capacity of up to 3,000 tons. It connects the busy port of Dunkirk , on the Atlantic coast , with the canalized river Scheldt , on which the ships can reach the industrial areas around Denain and Valenciennes , or continue their journey towards Belgium . Its length is 143 kilometers.
course
When this waterway was built in the 1950s and 1960s, a number of existing shipping canals were connected, widened and straightened in certain sections. Since the official kilometers run from east to west, contrary to its name, the sequence of the canals is also given in this direction. They are:
- Canal de la Sensée , roughly from Hordain to Courchelettes (23 kilometers)
- Scarpe bypass canal near Douai (7 kilometers)
- Canal de la Deûle , between Douai and Bauvin (23 kilometers)
- Canal d'Aire , between Bauvin and Aire-sur-la-Lys (39 kilometers)
- Canal de Neuffossé , between Aire-sur-Lys and Saint-Omer (19 kilometers)
- canalized river Aa between Saint-Omer and Watten (10 kilometers)
- Canal de la Colme and Dérivation du Canal de la Haute-Colme between Watten and Coppenaxfort (13 kilometers)
- Canal de Bourbourg between Coppenaxfort and Spycker (2 kilometers)
- Canal de Mardyck between Spycker and Dunkirk / Seeschleuse (7 kilometers)
In addition to the canals that have become part of the waterway, there is also a connection to the following other waterways:
- Canal du Nord near Arleux
- canalized river Scarpe near Douai
- canalized river Leie ( French Lys ) at Aire-sur-la-Lys
Coordinates
- Starting point of the canal: 50 ° 15 ′ 59 ″ N , 3 ° 18 ′ 4 ″ E
- End point of canal: 51 ° 1 ′ 28 ″ N , 2 ° 16 ′ 2 ″ E
Locks
On the main route there are 8 locks that lead down to sea level from a height of about 34 meters. Its dimensions are 144.60 × 12.00 meters. In some cases, the original locks (38.50 meters long) next to the large lock chambers are still in operation. The following locks have to be passed:
- (Pont-Malin)
- Gouzlin
- Courchelettes
- Douai
- Cuinchy
- Fontinettes
- Flandres
- Wadding
- Mardyck
The Pont-Malin lock is located at the mouth of the Canal de la Sensée and the canalized Scheldt. It limits the waterway in the east, but formally no longer belongs to it. At this canal triangle is also the Rond basin, formerly a transshipment port and seat of several rope mills. Today the Rond basin, which is about 1.5 km long and 300 m wide, is a water sports recreational area with a surfing and sailing school and a motor yacht club.
Places on the canal
Web links
Work on the section Canal de Neuffossé
The section Canal de Neuffossé crosses the city of Arques
The abandoned ship lift Les Fontinettes
eastern boundary of the waterway
The Rond basin at the Canal Triangle after the Pont Malin lock
