Floating dry dock sinks at Zeebrugge

Dry docks are obviously supposed to sink so that vessels can enter and exit them for repair work, but in this instance it sank within minutes while the vessel was preparing to dock.

The dock, the largest of its kind in Belgium, says local news agency Belga, is 135 metres long and 35 metres wide. It is owned by Flanders Shipyard, who refused to comment.

“What we know is that the floating dock was preparing to take in a tugboat for maintenance,” said the port’s spokesman. “What went wrong is not clear yet, but the dock sank quite fast. Divers have inspected it but have not yet been able to point to a possible cause.”

Zeebrugge is one of the most important ports in Europe, having merged with Antwerp to become part of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in 2021. 

The merged port is the most important container port, one of the largest break bulk ports and the largest port for the throughput of vehicles in Europe.

Eight elements of the Scheldt Tunnel, an immersed tunnel that will connect the left and right banks of the River Scheldt, are being built at the Port of Zeebrugge as part of the Oosterweel Link, a major western European infrastructure project with a total value of €3.35 billion. The project involves several tunnels and project engineering and is due to be completed by 2030.