![]() Approximately 75% comes from salty waters. At the same time, navigable waterways are essential to maintain transportation and trade - the country is home to the largest port in Europe, Rotterdam.Įach year, some 30 to 35 million m³ of mud are dredged out for the maintenance of the Dutch waterways. Siltation is a serious problem in the Netherlands, which lies in the delta area of various rivers that supply large amounts of silt and clay particles. However, in some parts of the Netherlands, people chose a different strategy: they designed a new type of cargo ship that could sail in shallow waterways. Therefore, it was supplemented by animal power, wind power and tidal power. ![]() Manual dredging was heavy labour, especially when waterways became deeper. However, in earlier times, the Dutch waterways were dredged mostly by hand, using simple but ingenious tools. Today, dredging happens with oil powered ships, which burn up to 3,000 litres of fuel per hour. ![]() If canals, harbours and rivers would not be maintained for a few years, the whole country would literally grind to a halt. The dredging industry has been the backbone of the Dutch economy for centuries.
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