The Port of Rotterdam Authority, the Municipality of Rotterdam and RET have made agreements regarding limited openings at Erasmus Bridge for tall vessels (with an air draught of over 12.5 m +NAP) during repairs on the bridge.
On September 14, a section of the steel overhead line at Erasmus Bridge came loose during the closing of the bridge leaf. RET has since installed a provisional overhead line for its tram services via this route.
From Sunday, 20 September on, the RET contractors will be able to remove this temporary overhead line so vessels can pass underneath the bridge. However, they prefer to do this as little as possible since it is a complicated, time-consuming operation.
The planned openings are on:
- Monday (1 a.m. to 2 a.m. – the night of Sunday to Monday)
- Wednesday (1 a.m. to 2 a.m. – the night of Tuesday to Wednesday)
- Friday (1 a.m. to 2 a.m. – the night of Thursday to Friday)
This temporary opening schedule was drawn up in close consultation with the key users. If vessels want to take advantage of one of these planned openings, they need to notify the operator at least 24 hours in advance. Tall vessels that do not wish to wait this long can take a detour via Oude Maas.
It is not yet clear how long it will take to round off the bridge repairs.
