The van Harinxmakanaal is a major canal in western

Frisland Frisland, also called Frischlant, Friesland, Frislanda, Frislandia, or Fixland, is a phantom island that appeared on virtually all of the maps of the North Atlantic from the 1560s through the 1660s. It was removed as no Frisland was found as ...

. It runs from the sea at Harlingen eastwards to

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

. Major places along the canal include

Franeker Franeker (; ) is one of the eleven historical City rights in the Low Countries, cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about west of Leeuwarden. As of 2023, it had 13,0 ...

Dronrijp Dronryp () is a village in the Dutch municipality of Waadhoeke. On 1 January 2017, it had 3,281 inhabitants. History and architecture Before 2018, the village was part of the Menameradiel municipality. A few centuries BC, a settlement developed ...

and Deinum. The canal is 37.5 kilometers long. It was named after Pieter Albert Vincent van Harinxma thoe Slooten in 1950 who was

King's Commissioner A King's commissioner (, ''CvdK'') is the head of government and legislature in a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. When the List of monarchs of the Netherlands, reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's commission ...

to Friesland from 1909 to 1945. Prior to this date it was called Harlinger Trekvaart. However this was widened and deepened, and a few corners cut off in 1951. At Suawoude it joins the

Prinses Margriet Canal The Prinses Margriet Canal () is a canal in Friesland, Netherlands. It is now part of the Lemmer–Delfzijl Waterway, that forms an inland connection between Rotterdam and northern Germany. The canal was constructed in the interests of Groningen ...

. The lock Tsjerk Hiddessluizen situated at the connection to the Harlingen harbour maintains the water level in the canal. The canal water level is connected to the water system called Friese boezem, consisting of lakes, waterways and canals in Friesland.

Biology

The van Harinxmakanaal has allowed the Eurasian otter (

Lutra lutra The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, European river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia and the Maghreb. The most widely distributed member o ...

) to move freely to new habitats in lakes and rivers in Friesland since 2002. However the banks of the canal are unsuitable for otters as there is no vegetation.

Capacity

The canal has been engineered to allow CEMT class IV vessels to transverse. These can have a draft of 3 m, a maximum length of 105 m, width 9.5 m and be up to 2000 tonnes. The height limit under bridges is 5.45 m.

Crossing points

van Harinxmakanaal is crossed by a number of bridges or aqueducts. The following are derived from

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Tributaries

A number of smaller canals and water courses connect with the varinxmakanaal. These are shallower and have lower bridge clearances but may be suitable for recreational vessels. A pumping station was built next to the Richard Hageman Aquaduct in 2014. This pumps water from the adjacent polders after it comes through a wetland to remove sludge.

Incidents

The opening of Spoorbrug HRMK broke down on 7 September 2021, closing the canal to shipping at this point. A cylinder was replaced restoring function on 4 October 2021.

References