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29-803: The Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway") is a ship canal in the Netherlands from het Scheur (a branch of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta ) west of the town of Maassluis to the North Sea at Hook of Holland : the Maasmond , where the Nieuwe Waterweg connects to the Maasgeul . It is the artificial mouth of the river Rhine. The Nieuwe Waterweg, which opened in 1872 and has a length of approximately 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi),

58-462: A barge canal suitable for vessels of similar length and width constraints. Ship canals may be specially constructed from the start to accommodate ships, or less frequently they may be enlarged barge canals or canalized or channelized rivers . There are no specific minimum dimensions for ship canals, with the size being largely dictated by the size of ships in use nearby at the time of construction or enlargement. Ship canals may be constructed for

87-571: A borough since 1973. In 2014, it was replaced by an "area committee". The kindertransport , with which Jewish children from Germany , Austria , Poland and Czechoslovakia could be brought to England from December 1938 until the outbreak of the World War II , usually went from the children's home stations to the Netherlands by train. The crossing to Harwich then largely took place from Hoek of Holland. The transports were supported by

116-594: A new canal for large ocean-going ships from Rotterdam to the North Sea. Hydraulic engineer Pieter Caland was commissioned to design a canal cutting through the "Hook of Holland” and to extend the Mouth of Rhine to the sea. The designs for this were already done back in 1731 by Nicolaas Samuelsz Cruquius but the implementation could no longer be postponed to prevent the decline of the harbour of Rotterdam. Construction began on 31 October 1863. The first phase consisted of

145-598: A number of reasons, including: Early canals were connected with natural rivers, either as short extensions or improvements to them. One of the first canals built was the Grand Canal of China , which was developed over a long period starting in the 5th century BCE. In the modern era, canals in the United Kingdom are typically associated with the Duke of Bridgewater , who hired the engineer James Brindley and had

174-657: A sandbar in the Maas estuary, when it became more and more silted after St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 . All kinds of plans were designed to improve the shipping channel to Rotterdam. In 1863 it was finally decided to construct the New Waterway which was dug between 1866 and 1868. The route ran through the Hook of Holland, where a primitive settlement, Old Hook (Oude Hoek - nowadays the Zuidelijk Strandcentrum),

203-688: A ship to move between different altitudes, and puddling , which waterproofed the canal. The standard used in the European Union for classifying the navigability of inland waterways is the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance (AGN) of 1996, adopted by The Inland Transport Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), which defines

232-517: Is a canal especially intended to accommodate ships used on the oceans, seas, or lakes to which it is connected. Ship canals can be distinguished from barge canals, which are intended to carry barges and other vessels specifically designed for river and/or canal navigation. Ships capable of navigating large bodies of open water typically have more draft, and are higher above the water than vessels for inland navigation. A ship canal therefore typically offers deeper water and higher bridge clearances than

261-477: Is this channel, together with the dredged channels in the North Sea, Maasgeul and Eurogeul , that allows ships like the MS Berge Stahl and MV Vale Rio de Janeiro (both with a draught of 23 meters) to enter Europoort . The Dutch government agency Rijkswaterstaat is responsible for maintaining the channel. The point where the Nieuwe Waterweg enters into the North Sea, between Hook of Holland on

290-460: The Stena Line ferry to Harwich . It connects to Dutch trains services at Schiedam Centrum station , Rotterdam Blaak station and Rotterdam Alexander station and after changing to other metro lines at Beurs metro station to Rotterdam Centraal . Hook of Holland is also the location of an international ferry terminal, from which service to eastern England has operated since 1893 except for

319-655: The draft of today's supertankers , it needs to be dredged constantly. In 1997, the last part of the Delta Works , the Maeslantkering , was put in operation near the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg. This storm surge barrier protects Rotterdam against north westerly Beaufort Force 10 to 12 storms. The Nieuwe Waterweg gives the Port of Rotterdam its deep-water access to the North Sea. From Hook of Holland it stretches for approximately 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi) where

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348-572: The ferry terminal and the small harbour, the Berghaven. Hoek van Holland Strand , the terminus, is closest to the beach. The railway line opened for service in 1893 and was electrified in 1935. International trains ran from Berlin and Moscow to connected these with London via the ferry service. From 1928 to 1939 and from 1962 to 1979, Hook of Holland was the northern terminus of the Rheingold Express to Frankfurt and Geneva. Services on

377-653: The Dutch government and by volunteers. The first transport, which started on December 1, 1938, at the Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof , reached England on December 2, 1938. When the transport was allowed, the British government stipulated that the children could not be older than seventeen and that their parents could not come along. The Nazis stipulated, among other things, that the children at the railway station were not allowed to say goodbye to those left behind. By

406-404: The Nieuwe Waterweg. By the middle of the 19th century, Rotterdam was already one of the largest port cities in the world, mainly because of transshipment of goods from Germany to Great Britain. The increase in shipping traffic created a capacity problem: there were too many branches in the river delta, making the port difficult to reach. In 1863, a law was passed that allowed for the provision of

435-679: The durations of the two World Wars . Currently, two routes are operated: one, a day-and-night freight and passenger service to Harwich , Essex , and the other, a night, freight-only service to North Killingholme Haven , Lincolnshire . The passenger ferry service is operated by Stena Line as part of the Dutchflyer rail-ferry service between Hook van Holland Haven station and Harwich International station in England, from which Greater Anglia provides service to Liverpool Street station in central London . A local ferry operated by RET links

464-436: The expropriation of farm lands from Rozenburg to Hook of Holland . During the second phase two dikes were built parallel to each other, which took 2 years. Caland proposed to extend the dikes 2 km into the sea to disrupt the coastal sea currents and decrease silt deposits in the shipping lane. Upon the completion of the dikes, the third phase began by the digging of the actual waterway. This began on 31 October 1866 and

493-802: The first canal (the Bridgewater Canal ) built that ran over a flowing river. In the United States, the canal that brought about an age of canal building was the Erie Canal . It was a long-sought-after canal and connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River . This canal initiated a half-century-long boom of canal building and brought about many new features that allowed canals to be used in different areas previously inaccessible to canals. These features include locks, which allow

522-567: The following classes: Hook of Holland Hook of Holland ( Dutch : Hoek van Holland , pronounced [ˈɦuk fɑn ˈɦɔlɑnt] ) is a coastal village in the southwestern corner of Holland , hence the name; hoek means "corner" and was in use before the word kaap – "cape". The English translation using Hook is a false cognate of the Dutch Hoek, but has become commonplace (in official government records in English,

551-561: The line to Rotterdam Centraal station were operated by NS every half-hour during the day until April 2017, when the line was closed. It was then converted to a metro/lightrail system. It was reopened in September 2019, as an extension of the Rotterdam Metro / lightrail. The metro/lightrail service from Hook of Holland terminates at the beach, stops at the redeveloped Hoek van Holland Haven metro station where it connects to

580-424: The name tends not to get translated and Hoek van Holland is used). It is located at the mouth of the New Waterway shipping canal into the North Sea . The village is administered as a district of the municipality of Rotterdam . Its district covers an area of 18.53 km , of which 14.19 km is land. On 1 January 2023 it had an estimated population of 10,560. Settlements near "the Hook" ( de Hoek ) include

609-617: The north bank and the Maasvlakte to the south, is called the Maasmond. It is marked with two navigation light-towers called the Paddestoelen ("mushrooms"). The Nieuwe Waterweg connects, in the North Sea, to the Maasgeul . This dredged channel in the North Sea is being widened to 840 metres (2,760 ft) to facilitate the largest container vessels for the new Maasvlakte 2 that opened in 2013. Ship canal A ship canal

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638-518: The north side of the New Waterway, to the west of the village, is a pier, part of which is accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. The Berghaven is a small harbour on the New Waterway where the Rotterdam and Europoort pilots are based. This small harbour is only for the use of the pilot service, government vessels and the Hook of Holland lifeboat . The Hook of Holland area was created as

667-538: The sea'. During World War II , the Hook was one of the most important places for the Wehrmacht to hold because of its harbour, which comprised an important and strategic part of the Atlantic Wall . The German Army installed three 11" guns (removed from the damaged battleship Gneisenau ) as shore batteries to protect the port area from invasion. Hook of Holland already had a ward council in 1947 and has been

696-470: The small towns Monster , Naaldwijk and 's-Gravenzande and the city Delft to the northeast, and the town Maassluis to the southeast. On the other side of the river is the harbor Europort and the Maasvlakte . The wide sandy beach, one section of which is designated for use by naturists , runs for approximately 18 kilometres to Scheveningen and for most of this distance is backed by extensive sand dunes through which there are foot and cycle paths. On

725-427: The time the war broke out in 1939, approximately 10,000 children had been brought to Britain in this way. The Schiedam–Hoek van Holland railway was a 24-kilometre train service branch line from Schiedam Centrum station via Vlaardingen and Maassluis . The final two stations on the line were located within the village. Hoek van Holland Haven , the penultimate station, was close to the village centre, adjacent to

754-524: The waterway continues as the Nieuwe Maas . The very first Nieuwe Waterweg—a breach through the dunes at Hook of Holland—was only 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi) long, but in around 1877 the channel was made much larger and wider and the current Nieuwe Waterweg was created. Currently the width of the channel is between 480 and 675 metres (1,575 and 2,215 ft) and it is dredged to a depth of 14.5–16 metres (48–52 ft) below Amsterdam Ordnance Datum . It

783-403: Was completed three years later. The large amounts of removed soil were in turn used to reinforce other dams and dikes. The last phase consisted of the removal of the dam separating the new waterway from the sea and river. In 1872, the Nieuwe Waterweg was completed and Rotterdam was easily accessible. Because of the currents and erosion, the shipping lane has been widened somewhat. Yet because of

812-480: Was constructed to keep the city and port of Rotterdam accessible to seafaring vessels as the natural Meuse-Rhine branches silted up. The Waterway is a busy shipping route since it is the primary access to one of the busiest ports in the world, the Port of Rotterdam . At the entrance to the sea, a flood protection system called Maeslantkering has been installed (completed in 1997). There are no bridges or tunnels across

841-650: Was created. Many workers and senior employees of the Rijkswaterstaat settled in Old Hook. The Hook initially fell under the administrative authority of 's-Gravenzande . An attempt by the inhabitants to transform the place into an independent municipality failed and, on 1 January 1914, Hook of Holland was added to Rotterdam. After the First World War the village started to develop into a seaside resort. It has since been informally known as 'Rotterdam by

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