Royal Schelde Opens New Covered Dock
On 28th January 2005 the Dutch Chief of Staff, General Dick L. Berlijn, has officially opened the newly covered Dock 2 of Royal Schelde at the shipbuilding location in Vlissingen-East.The existing dock has been covered to facilitate building of large ships unhindered by weather. The first ship which will be completed in the new hall will be the second Landing Platform Dock (LPD), “Johan de Witt” for the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The hall is 260 meter long, nearly 50 meter wide and 50 meter high, making it the largest covered dock in The Netherlands. The dock is 215 meter long, 13 meter deep and nearly 30 meter wide. The dock will not only accommodate newly built vessels, but also conversions of existing ones. The covering of the dock required an investment of close to 18 million euro. The new hall is owned by Royal Schelde, which implies that all business units of the group can make use of the dock. All employees of Royal Schelde were invited to witness the opening ceremony of the new hall, where the company hopes to build a large number of ships in the future.