Zeebrugge/Antwerp, May 31, 2025 — A major milestone was reached in Belgium’s ambitious Oosterweel Link project on Friday as the first of eight colossal tunnel sections destined to form the Scheldt Tunnel set sail from the construction quay in Zeebrugge en route to Antwerp.
Measuring 160 metres in length and weighing an astounding 60,000 tonnes, the immense concrete structure is the first of several that will eventually be submerged and connected to form the crucial tunnel under the River Scheldt.
The tunnel will serve as a vital component of the Oosterweel Link, a mega infrastructure project designed to complete the Antwerp Ring Road and ease chronic congestion in the city.
The journey to Antwerp covers approximately 100 kilometres by sea and river, and the logistical feat of moving such an enormous structure required months of meticulous preparation.
The transport operation involved extensive planning to account for a complex range of variables including weather conditions, wind strength, ocean swell, water currents, and tidal behaviour.
“Transporting a structure of this scale is a delicate operation that demands ideal conditions not just at the point of departure, but throughout the entire journey,” said a spokesperson for Lantis, the public company overseeing the Oosterweel project. “We only greenlight the movement when every single parameter aligns.”
To ensure the success of the operation, simulations were carried out in advance, enabling the skippers to rehearse the entire route multiple times in a virtual environment.
“This allowed the crew to become intimately familiar with every twist and turn of the journey before the real voyage began,” the spokesperson added.
Onlookers at the Zeebrugge quay and along the Belgian coastline watched in awe as the floating convoy — comprised of four powerful tugboats and a pusher boat — manoeuvred the massive tunnel segment into open waters.
The section is now en route to the Doel Quay in the Port of Waasland, Antwerp, which has been designated as a temporary waiting area ahead of the tunnel’s final assembly and immersion beneath the riverbed.
According to the current project schedule, at least two more tunnel sections are expected to depart Zeebrugge in June, with all eight sections planned to have left the coastal construction site by the end of August.
Each tunnel segment is being constructed in a specially built dry dock in Zeebrugge before being floated out and towed to Antwerp. Once all sections are in place, they will be immersed and joined on the riverbed with precision engineering.
The completion of the Scheldt Tunnel will mark a critical step forward in the long-delayed Oosterweel Link, which aims to significantly improve mobility in and around Antwerp while also reducing traffic pressure on local roads and cutting emissions.
Construction on the entire Oosterweel project is expected to be completed by 2030, bringing an end to one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Belgian history.
