The North Sea infrastructure

Position
26 September 2024
#Safety

The shipping lanes in the North Sea are the lifeblood of the Dutch economy. In the spatial (re)arrangement of the North Sea, the Dutch government must ensure that ships can continue to navigate these shipping lanes safely and smoothly.

What is this about?

The North Sea offers an ocean of possibilities. It looks like a construction site for the development of offshore infrastructure: wind farms, islands, aquaculture Sea farms are marine aquaculture farms where people raise fish, shellfish and other marine animals. They use nets or large cages to protect and care for the animals. and every now and then someone even brings up the idea of building an airport in the North Sea. Perfect to meet the climate goals, without the inconveniences for the citizens on the mainland.

The North Sea is already being used for a wide range of purposes and free space in the North Sea is becomming more and more scarce. For example, there are anually 250,000 sailings through the Dutch part of the North Sea. 50,000 of these sailings include a port call in the Netherlands. This results in the Dutch waters being part of the busiest shipping areas in the world. Shipping is an important lifeline of the Dutch economy. A large number of ships calling at the Dutch port make use of the traffic seperation schemes Marine traffic separation schemes are systems designed to improve the safety and efficiency of shipping traffic. They consist of specific fairways, dividing lines, navigation buoys and lights that help ships navigate in congested areas. . It is important that all these ships can safely sail through these traffic seperation scheme's

The Netherlands is additionally working towards 21 GW of offshore wind energy production by 2030, and possibly 50 GW by 2040 with the ultimate goal to reach 70 GW by 2050. This means that many more offshore wind farms will be build in the Dutch part of the North Sea.

In short, the North Sea is a crowded place, and activities are likely to increase in the near future.

How should we solve it?

On June 19, 2020, the “North Sea Agreement” was presented to the House of Representatives. It does not include any additional agreements for shipping. The proposal does include the basic principle for the shipping industry that “when areas at sea are designated for a certain purpose, safety and accessibility for shipping must be guaranteed. When new activities cause safety risks, these risks must be mitigated. The necessary measures for this must be realized before commissioning."

The KVNR urges the Dutch government to ensure that ships can continue to navigate the North Sea safely and efficiently during the discussions and planning regarding the spatial reallocation of the area.

The KVNR suggest that the following measurements must be taken to guarantee safe navigation of the Dutch North Sea:

Provide VTS coverage

Provide assistance vessels at wind farms

Ensure a good connection with Germany and Denmark

Keep in mind in advance of increasing traffic through the Northeast Passage

Adopt Safety Board's recommendations

State of Affairs - November 1, 2024

The Schoof administration's coalition program states that “to ensure safety of navigation, the government conducts risk analyses when building offshore wind farms, in line with the recommendations of the Dutch Safety Board.”

Expert and press contact

Author

NIels van de Minkelis

Technical and Nautical Affairs
Press contact

Nathan Habers

Head of Communications & Public Affairs