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The Western Scheldt ( nl, Westerschelde) in the province of
Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...
in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are now disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving the Westerschelde as its only direct route to the sea. The Western Scheldt is an important shipping route to the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. Unlike the Eastern Scheldt estuary, it could not be closed off from the sea by a dam as part of the
Delta Works The Delta Works ( nl, Deltawerken) is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works con ...
. Instead, the dykes around it have been heightened and reinforced. Over the years, many ships have sunk in the Western Scheldt. Following an agreement between the Dutch and Belgian governments in 1995, many of the wrecks have been removed to improve shipping access to Antwerp. It was expected that the last 38 wrecks in the shipping channel would be removed during 2003. The largest wreck was the long '' Alan A. Dale'', which was removed in June 2003. The Western Scheldt was freed from German occupation in October and November 1944 by the
First Canadian Army The First Canadian Army (french: 1reArmée canadienne) was a field army and a formation of the Canadian Army in World War II in which most Canadian elements serving in North-West Europe were assigned. It served on the Western Front from July 194 ...
during
The Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Allies ...
. Recently, the Western Scheldt has been exploring the concept of "wisselpolders" or "exchange polders", a
sedimentation enhancing strategy Sedimentation enhancing strategies are environmental management projects aiming to restore and facilitate land-building processes in deltas. Sediment availability and deposition are important because deltas naturally subside and therefore need sed ...
, to offset land loss, enhance flood safety and which creates new land. One example is the Perkpolder project.


Western Scheldt Tunnel

In mid-March 2003, a
tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube const ...
under the Western Scheldt opened, the Western Scheldt Tunnel, running from Ellewoutsdijk in the municipality of
Borsele Borsele (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Bossele) is a municipality in the southwestern Netherlands on Zuid-Beveland. The name of the municipality is spelled with a single s; the name of the eponymous village is Borssele, spelled with double s. The m ...
( Zuid-Beveland) to Terneuzen in Zeelandic Flanders. It is the longest road tunnel in the Netherlands. The toll (2012) is €5 for
cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
and €2.50 for motorcycles. Prior to 2011, the charge for motorcycles was the same as for cars, but it was reduced following protests. The single toll station for both directions is on the north bank. Pedestrians, cyclists, and moped riders are not allowed in the tunnel and must travel through it by bus.


Ferry

The double-decker car ferries that serviced the two Western Scheldt crossings until 2003 were sold to Italian companies. The Queen Beatrix (renamed ''Tremestieri'') and Prince Johan Friso (renamed ''Acciarello'') were adapted for the crossing between
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in t ...
and
Villa San Giovanni Villa San Giovanni is a port city and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria of Calabria, Italy. In 2010 its population was 13,747 with a decrease of 2.5% until 2016 and in 2020 an increase of 3.7% . It is an important term ...
on the Italian mainland. With the opening of the road tunnel, the
Breskens Breskens is a harbour town on the Westerschelde in the municipality of Sluis in the province of Zeeland, in the south-western Netherlands. Its population is 4,787 (). The town is noted for the ''Visserijfeesten'' (Fishery Festival), the largest f ...
-
Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...
was restricted to pedestrians and cyclists. It is operated by Westerschelde Ferry BV, a subsidiary of the province of
Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...
. The service initially used former car ferries, but as of 2 May 2004 it employs two " small waterplane area twinhulls" (swaths, similar to
catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...
s), built at the Royal Schelde Group in Vlissingen (Flushing), and named ''Prins Willem Alexander'' and ''Prinses Máxima''. Upstream, the Kruiningen-Perkpolder ferry was discontinued without replacement.


See also

* Eastern Scheldt


References


External links


FerryTunnelFerry and Tunnel
(in Dutch, pdf, 1MB) {{Authority control Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Estuaries of the Netherlands Rivers of Zeeland 0Westernscheldt Walcheren Zeelandic Flanders Zuid-Beveland Transport in Reimerswaal Transport in Vlissingen Ramsar sites in the Netherlands Rivers of the Netherlands