Twente Board chair criticises Rijk's communication on Twentekanalen closure
Ank Bijleveld-Schouten says the full shutdown of the Twentekanalen was carried out without timely warning or a clear plan for shippers to fall back on.
The chair of the Twente Board has criticised the national government over how it handled the full closure of the Twentekanalen, saying the shutdown was pushed through without timely communication or a clear plan of action for the companies affected. The regional body's intervention adds a political dimension to a summer already dominated by operational disruption on the Dutch inland waterway network.
According to the Twente Board, shipping companies and other waterway users were left with too little notice to prepare for a closure covering the entire canal system, leaving them scrambling to reroute cargo or adjust schedules on short notice. The board's criticism centres less on the decision to close the canals, which it appears to accept as necessitated by water levels, than on the way the closure was announced and managed.
The Twentekanalen form a key link for inland shipping moving goods between the eastern Netherlands and the German border region, and a full closure of the system removes an important corridor for barge operators serving industry in Twente. A shutdown of this scale typically forces companies to either wait out the closure or find longer, costlier alternative routes to keep cargo moving.
The episode echoes broader frustration this summer among regional authorities and industry groups over how national bodies are communicating about water-related closures across the Dutch waterway network, as an unusually early and severe dry spell forces unplanned restrictions in multiple provinces at once. Clear, early warning is seen as essential for shipping companies that need lead time to reposition vessels and cargo.
With the Twentekanalen now closed and no fixed date given for reopening, attention turns to whether the national government adjusts how it communicates about future water-level closures elsewhere in the country. The criticism from the Twente Board is likely to feed into a wider debate about coordination between regional and national authorities as the dry period continues.
