THE WATERWAYS OF BELGIUM.
The little kingdom of Belgium enjoys the advantage of having both a
complete railway system and an excellent system of canal transport.
There is, indeed, no country in Europe where the conditions of
economical transportation have been more closely and more effectually
studied. To this fact is largely to be attributed the unique position
which Belgium holds among the industrial nations of the world. With
limited coal resources, which are much behind those of some other
European countries, alike as regards their quality and the economical
conditions under which they can be mined; with iron ore supplies that
are almost exhausted, and which only meet her own consumption to a
very limited extent; with hardly any other mineral resources worth
speaking of, excepting only certain deposits of zinc ores, Belgium
has relatively a larger industrial population than any other country
in Europe, and enjoys a degree of prosperity that is rare even in
countries more liberally endowed with Nature’s gifts.
Belgium possesses twenty-nine different canals or canalised waterways,
of which three—the Escaut, the Lys, and the Meuse—are each over 100
kilometres in length. The total length of the waterways of Belgium in
1885 was 1634 kilometres, or 1013 miles. The total number of tons of
traffic carried on the Belgian waterways was 31,362,000, and the total
number of tons transported one kilometre was 726,359,000, so that the
average length of transport per ton was 23·2 kilometres.[79] There are,
however, cases in which the average length of lead is much under this
figure, as for example that of the “Raccordement à Gand,” where it is
only 1·8 kilometre. For a number of years past the canal traffic has
been tolerably steady, but between 1879 and 1884 there was a decrease
of absolute quantity, although not of the kilometric tonnage.
_The Belgian Ship Canals._—Belgium has two excellent ship canals—one
from Terneuzen to Ghent, and the other from Ostend to Bruges. The
improvement of the ship canal from Ghent to Terneuzen was begun in
1874, and concluded in 1879. Originally the canal had many bends,
which rendered navigation difficult, and it was also of too limited
dimensions to admit the large size of craft that was desired. The depth
of the canal up to 1873 was 14 feet 4 inches, and its width was 98 feet
6 inches at the water-level. The improvement works then undertaken were
designed to increase the depth to 21 feet 3 inches, and the width to
103 feet 9 inches on the water-level.
There is much traffic in the Upper Scheldt from Antwerp to Ghent, the
water being tidal to the latter town, with a depth of 6 to 8 feet,
working the river with the tide. The Terneuzen Canal is 35 kilometres
in length, and is used by some twenty steamers from England weekly,
taking coals, pig iron, and other articles, and loading manufactured
iron and other goods from all parts of Belgium. The inland harbour at
Ghent has been much enlarged of late, and the lock has been removed,
thus rendering access more easy. It is now a waterway of ample depth
and great width, with locks at Terneuzen on the Scheldt, and at Sas van
Gent, near the Belgian frontier. There is a pilot station at Terneuzen,
the men taking their turns to and from Ghent. English coal may be
bought for 15 to 18 francs a ton at Ghent, being carried at a very
low freight for want of cargo on the outward voyage. Vessels of the
following dimensions can use this canal:—Length, 110 metres; breadth,
11·50 metres; and draught, 5·85 metres. Their speed _en route_ when
exceeding 2·75 metres draught, is 145 metres a minute; when under 1·50
metres draught, 250 metres a minute.
The enormous difference that results to the prosperity of a city from
the possession of facilities for the navigation of vessels is well
illustrated in the case of the old town of Bruges in Belgium, as
compared with that of her rival Antwerp. Nay, the point is forcibly
brought home by the history of Bruges herself.
This “Venice of the North” lay formerly near the sea, on a gulf of
large extent and considerable depth; she was easily accessible, not
only to the ordinary run of vessels, but even to the largest of ships.
That her port of Damme was large is evident from the fact that in 1213
Philip Augustus, at the head of 1700 sail, closed in it with the allied
English and Flemish fleets. This fact alone will give an idea of the
importance of Bruges harbour, then one of the largest in Europe. As
long as these means of communication with the sea remained open, Bruges
maintained her commercial power. The successive accumulations of clay
in the Zwyn and in the havens of Damme and Sluys, the outer ports
of Bruges, were the causes of the lamentable state of things which
followed.
About the beginning of the 13th century, vessels sailed into Damme,
the port of Bruges, from all quarters of the world, and poured into
her markets the trade and wealth of the South and East. Less than a
century later the inhabitants of Bruges were compelled to lengthen
their maritime channel to Sluys, a small town situated on the Zwyn,
about eight miles beyond Damme. The new canal was so constructed as to
give access to vessels of from 400 to 500 tons, the largest then built;
it passed by Dudzeele and Westcapelle. Hardly had it been opened when
the commercial movement of Bruges took a fresh start; from 1420 to
1470 Bruges was the mart of the world, and her fortune had reached its
climax. By the Sluys Harbour, into which entered in 1468 with one tide
as many as 250 vessels, Bruges was in communication with the North and
South of Europe; she was also the only market city for the Netherlands
and the Hanseatic League. But from 1470 onwards, i. e. twenty-two years
before the discovery of America, the accumulation of clay in the Zwyn
again made its disastrous effects felt. Caracks, galleys, and other
large vessels could no longer enter the channel. Charles the Bold, in
order to deepen it, had the _polder_[80] of the Zwartegat opened, but
without avail. Twelve years later, in 1482, matters stood in a much
worse condition, and vessels of large draught had completely ceased
to appear. No work such as cleansing was carried out, no artificial
sluices for such a purpose constructed; and the Sluys Canal, that bold
work which during one whole century had maintained the marvellous
prosperity of Bruges, now wellnigh useless, became entirely choked up,
and like the harbour of Sluys itself, disappeared in the depths of the
vast gulf, under the clayey mud and deposits of its alluvia-bearing
waves. Bruges was thenceforth condemned to a long decline.
In 1622, during the reign of Albert and Isabella, the opening of a
canal from Bruges to Ostend, _viâ_ Plasschendacle was for the first
time determined upon. Twenty years later was dug the canal from Bruges
to Nieuport and from Nieuport to Dunkerque. In 1646 Dunkerque was
given up to France, and consequently the Flemings were obliged, in
1664, to direct their attention towards Ostend. The dimensions of this
canal were now largely increased, and the sluices of Plasschendacle
replaced by those of Slykens, much nearer the sea. In 1717, a powerful
society, known as the _Compagnie des Indes_, was organised at Ostend.
The undertaking met with wonderful success at its very beginning, and
would probably have given back to Bruges some of its former movement
and life, had not the Treaty of Paris of 1727, inspired by the jealousy
of Holland and England, suspended for seven years the grant of the
company, and later on forbidden all commercial intercourse between the
Austrian Netherlands and the Indies. Four years later the Treaty of
Vienna of 1731, stipulated expressly—Sec. 4 of the Act, dated from
the Hague, 20th February, 1732—“That all commerce and navigation from
the Austrian Netherlands to the East Indies, as also that all commerce
and navigation from the East Indies to the Austrian Netherlands, shall
cease for ever.”
In 1783, Joseph II., wishing to end the state of subjection that his
provinces were labouring under, conceived the idea of linking the
waters of Flanders with those of the sea, by means of canals to be
dug exclusively in Flemish ground. He failed in the attempt, and it
was only after the Netherlands had been joined to the French Empire
that the work which the inhabitants of Bruges had been in vain seeking
for centuries was again attempted. At their urgent request, Napoleon
ordered a canal to be dug from Bruges to Sluys _viâ_ Damme; this it
was intended to lengthen later on, as far as the Scheldt, somewhere
near Breskens. The works unfortunately were carried on with extreme
slowness, and the fall of the empire prevented their completion. In
1818 the canal was opened.
In 1829, King William found out the inefficiency of the issues of the
Zwyn; he resumed the scheme of Napoleon I., and decided to push the new
canal on to Breskens. The works were on the point of being ordered,
when, in 1830, the Revolution broke out, and Bruges saw the realisation
of her hopes again deferred.
Since 1470, then, three principal efforts have been made to bring
Bruges into communication with the sea; first, in 1622, _viâ_ Ostend;
second, in 1640, _viâ_ Dunkerque; third, in 1810, _viâ_ Breskens. The
two last failed through political events, which took away from Belgium
the two principal points: Dunkerque scarcely five years after the
canal was completed; Breskens before the works were even begun. One
disadvantage to be noticed with regard to these two towns is the
considerable distances at which they lie from Bruges—Dunkerque at
over forty, Breskens at more than twenty miles. Moreover the works,
comparatively speaking, were on a very small scale. As for the Ostend
scheme, the canal necessarily encountered the same fate as the harbour
itself—one continual struggle against alluvia. The case seemed
hopeless, and Bruges in despair had resigned herself to her melancholy
fate, when in 1877 M. A. de Maere Limnander started and publicly
advocated a scheme which was intended to open for Bruges, once more a
seaport town, a fresh era of prosperity. The work which he published
on the subject, the result of long inquiry, has met with general
approbation.
In the construction of the ship canal from Ostend to Bruges, the spot
chosen for the outer port lay in the neighbourhood of Heijst, to the
south-west of the mouth of the Sebzate and Schipdonek canals, at about
1250 metres (4114 feet) from the Heijst sluices. The motives for
selecting this place are twofold—Firstly, the minimum of clearing to
be executed in opening the downs, the depth of which is here of not
more than from 50 to 60 metres (164 feet to 197 feet); secondly, the
minimum of length to be given to the piers, the depth of seven metres
(23 feet) at ebb tide being here very near the shore. This part of
the coast, moreover, is also one which has stood in constant danger
of irruption on the part of the sea, and has only recently needed
strengthening. To maintain the depth at the entrance to the harbour
the westerly pier is made the longer of the two, and slightly bent in
towards the end; its length is fixed at 1100 metres (3620 feet), viz.,
840 metres (2769 feet) from the base to the bend, and 260 metres (855
feet) from the bend to the end; that of the easterly one at 800 metres
(2633 feet); the width at the entrance to the port at 300 metres (987
feet), and that at the base of the same at 1000 metres (3291 feet);
the surface of the harbour thus amounts to 60 hectares (6000 acres, or
29,040,000 square yards). The masonry consists of artificial blocks of
the largest possible dimensions, never weighing less than from 40,000
to 90,000 kilogs.—from about 85,000 lb. to about 180,000 lb. M. de
Maere also advocates the construction along the outer side of the
westerly pier of a breakwater, made of a single row of stakes. One or
two lighthouses are to light the entrance to the harbour. The cost of
this section of the works was estimated at 9,000,000f. = 360,000_l._
The canal runs in a straight line from the sea to the docks at Bruges.
Its length is 12 kilometers.—about 7½ miles; its floor width is
20 metres—65 feet; its width, measuring at the water-line, of 62
metres—204 feet; its depth from the water-line of 7 metres—23 feet.
The slopes have a slant of 1 metre—3 feet 3½ inches—for every 3
metres—9 feet, 10½ inches. This lessens the expense of keeping in
repair, and, where the necessity is felt, makes the widening of the
bottom possible. The canal is exclusively fed with sea-water, and is so
constructed as to allow of the Ghent-Heijst Canal being easily joined
to it later on below the future sluice. The amount of earth dug out
of the canal was about 8,887,000 cubic feet, and the cost of clearing
it some 2,500,000f.—100,000_l._ 2,700,000 cubic metres of earth were
employed in the construction of banks or dykes along the canal. This
necessitated the expropriation of 170 hectares—17,000 acres, or
82,280,000 square yards—of land, at the rate of 10,000f.—400_l._—per
hectare, or 1,700,000f.—68,000_l._—for the 170 hectares.
Other features of the canal include a sea-sluice, constructed below
the downs, with a double bridge, one-half of which will be devoted to
the Blankenberghe-Heijst Railway; the other half to general use. The
bridge is 8 metres—about 26 feet—wide, and the opening at the sluice,
as also at the bridge, is 20 metres (about 65 feet), thus enabling
several ships to enter at a time. Another sluice-gate is fixed some 200
metres (about 7900 feet) lower, and the part of the canal between will
be made quite secure by means of a flood-gate. The cost of these works
amounted to about 2,000,000f. (80,000_l._). The plans also provided
for two bridges, one on the Lisseweghe-Dudgeele, the other on the
Lisseweghe-Heijst high roads, and four syphons for the draining of the
low waters of the country, to run under the canal at a depth of eight
metres (about 26 feet) below the water-line.[81]
The river Rupel, which is about 12 miles above Antwerp, leads from the
Scheldt to Willebrock, opposite the town of Boom. From here a canal
with five large locks leads to Brussels. This canal, which had its
origin in the year 1415, but which was only completed in 1561, is of
considerable importance. The traffic on it is heavy, and it is worked
by the Corporation of Brussels, the result usually leaving a profit.
The tolls on this canal are—First class, ·06 franc; second class, ·04½
francs; third class, ·02 franc per ton. In all cases a cubic metre is
reckoned as 1000 kilogrammes, or one metrical ton. In the first class
is reckoned merchandise, &c.; in the second class, bricks, firewood,
stone (wrought or unwrought), salt, &c.; and the third class, unladen
vessels.
There is a depth of from somewhat over 10 feet of water, but this is
limited to an effective depth of 3·10 metres where it passes over a
small stream by a brick aqueduct. A line of steamers belonging to
Messrs. Thomas & Co., of London, runs to Brussels regularly, and
several Dutch lines of steam barges use this route. Sailing vessels and
lighters are worked on the canal by means of the chain system, with
_remorqueurs_, twenty to thirty being thus easily towed. The locks are
large, and as many vessels pass at the same time, the trains are made
up accordingly. When two meet, the ascending tug drops the chain, the
train keeps on its right side, and the chain is again picked up by a
grapple when the descending train has passed. With this system the
vessels are easily steered by the men at the helm. When approaching
a lock, the chain is thrown off in proper time, and the vessels’
way being checked, they gradually settle side by side in the lock.
Great skill and care is used by the men, damage by collision rarely
occurring. One great advantage attending this system of towage is that
the tugs make no wash, which so much destroys the banks of canals. The
tolls are light, and the rates for towage very low. Empty vessels only
pay 20 c. for a _laissez passer vide_; this ticket, as in France, can
be taken from any _bureau de navigation_ to any other place in the
kingdom or in the Republic.
Belgium has made a substantial contribution to the more important
engineering features of canals by the construction of the La Louviére
Canal lift on the Terneuzen Canal, which is illustrated on the opposite
page.
[Illustration: LA LOUVIÉRE CANAL LIFT.]
This canal lift was constructed for the Belgian Government by the
Société Cockerill, of Seraing, from the designs and under the
superintendence of Messrs. Clark, Stanfield, and Clark, of Westminster,
consulting engineers to the Government, and the patentees of the
system. The difference between the levels of the upper and lower
canals—that is, the height the boats are raised—is 50 feet 6¼ inches.
The lift consists of two pontoons, or troughs, each 141 feet long by 19
feet broad, with 8 feet draught of water, and are capable of holding
the largest size of barge that navigates on the Belgian broad-gauge
canal system. Such barges are capable of taking 400 tons of coal or
other cargo, so that the total weight of the trough, water, and barge
is not much under 1000 tons. This immense weight is supported on the
top of a single colossal hydraulic ram of 6 feet 6¾ inches diameter
and 63 feet 9½ inches long, working in a press of cast iron, hooped
continuously, for greater security, with weldless steel coils. The
working pressure in this press is about 470 lbs. to the square inch.
The time actually occupied in lifting or lowering is only two and a
half minutes. The La Louviére lift is said to be the largest in the
world.
_The Scheldt Navigation._—In the recent history of the shipping
industry, the city of Antwerp has played a prominent part, thanks
partly to the facilities afforded by the river Scheldt, partly to the
easy means of access to other parts of Belgium and Holland by sea and
canal, and partly to the very low rates charged for transport by both
systems of navigation.
Up to the year 1863, the Dutch Government levied a tax upon all vessels
using the Scheldt. This tax was found to be so onerous, that treaties
were entered into in that year by which, in consideration of certain
specific payments made by the various countries concerned in the
navigation of the river, the King of Holland renounced his right to
levy such duties.[82] Since then the trade of Antwerp has advanced by
“leaps and bounds.” Between 1862, the year previous to the abolition
of the taxes on shipping, and 1887, the importations into Antwerp had
increased by 335 per cent., and the exportations from Antwerp had
increased by more than 500 per cent. In the general transit trade the
increase was equally striking, amounting to about 400 per cent. The
tonnage of vessels entering the port of Antwerp within the same period
advanced by about 600 per cent.[83]
_Economical Conditions of Water Transport in Belgium._—The abolition
of the taxes levied previous to 1863 has had the effect, coupled
with a judicious development of the shipping facilities of the port,
of placing Antwerp at the head of the maritime ports of Continental
Europe, as regards both the volume of its trade and the low rate of
freights that may be obtained thence for nearly all the other ports of
the world.
There is no country that enjoys the advantages of such cheap railroad
transportation, excepting some instances in the United States, as
Belgium, and yet, as we have seen, there is no country that makes a
more extensive use of its canal communications. The cost of transport
on the canals from the Belgian coalfields to Paris amounted to 0·29_d._
in the spring, and 0·34_d._ in the autumn of 1883, not including
interest.[84] The lowest rate of transport on English railways for the
same description of traffic is ·49_d._ per ton per mile. The canal
transport of Belgium, therefore, averaging the summer and winter rates,
is ·18_d._, or 58 per cent. cheaper[85] than that of the London coal
traffic, which is pointed to in this country as a remarkable example
of economical transport, and which certain authorities declare to be
carried at a loss to the companies.[86]
_Extent and Income of Belgian Canals._—We have seen that the total
length of the canals of Belgium is over 1634 kilometres, of which
the principal were the Communal Canal from Brussels to Rufel (28
kilometres), the canal from Brussels to Charleroi (24 kilometres), the
Haut-Escaut Canal (115 kilometres), the Bas Escaut Canal, from Gand to
the Dutch frontier (118 kilometres), the Ghent and Ostend Canal (70
kilometres), the Ghent and Terneuzen Canal (17 kilometres), the Meuse
and Escaut Canal (86½ kilometres), the Lys Canal (113 kilometres), the
canalised Meuse from Givet to Liége (113½ kilometres), the Mons and
Condé Canal (20 kilometres). Altogether there are forty-five canals in
Belgium, which in 1886 carried 763,108,000 kilometric tons—equal to
about 480 million ton miles. The total tonnage carried on the canals,
as a whole, is returned at about 33½ millions, including the Meuse,
and the average distance over which each ton was carried was 22·8
kilometres. The principal elements of the canal traffic are shown in
the appended statement of tons carried one kilometre:—
Kilometric Tons.
Coal and coke 167,221,000
Iron, iron ore, building materials, &c. 210,600,000
Agricultural produce 117,217,000
Industrial products, &c. 268,400,000
The annual income of the Belgian canals, notwithstanding that the
facilities for canal navigation have been considerably extended and
improved, has not increased during recent years. On the contrary, while
the annual income between 1841 and 1850 was 2,885,000 francs, and from
1851 to 1860, 2,974,000 francs, the average of 1871 to 1880 had fallen
to 1,676,000 francs, and in 1887 it was only 1,266,000 francs. The
latter fall, however, must be due to a decrease in rates, as the amount
of traffic carried between 1881 and 1886 increased from 30,562,000
tons to 33,419,000 tons. The ordinary expenses of maintaining the
canals of Belgium have been reduced from 2,600,000 francs in 1881 to
2,100,000 francs in 1886. For a number of years past there has been
a considerable extraordinary expenditure on the canals, the special
credits for this purpose having been as much as 12½ million francs in
1883.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] The chief elements of this traffic were:—
Tons transported
one kilometre.
Coal and coke 147,402,000
Other minerals and metals 200,606,000
Agricultural products, wood, &c. 130,571,000
Industrial products, and others 247,780,000
[80] This was an extensive plain in the Netherlands, protected by
dykes, which was formerly covered by the sea.
[81] These particulars are mainly abstracted from the _Engineer_,
January 3rd, 1879.
[82] The sum total of these amounts was 17,141,640 francs, or
685,666_l._, of which more than one-half was paid by Great Britain,
and fully one-sixth by the United States.
[83] The figures are so remarkable that it will probably be
interesting to put them on record in a tabulated form:—
────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────
Year. │ Importations │ Exportations │ Tonnage of Ships
│ by Sea. │ by Sea. │ entering Antwerp.
────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────
│ tons │ tons │ tons
1862 │ 568,871 │ 177,702 │ 599,899
1886 │ 2,438,178 │ 821,753 │ 3,658,900
────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────
[84] Minutes of Proc. Inst. C. E., vol. 68, p. 484.
[85] Subject, of course, to the charge for interest, which, however,
will be very trifling.
[86] Mr. F. R. Conder maintains that the London coal traffic is
carried at a loss to the railways of 822,000_l._ per annum, or 40 per
cent. on the traffic.