The dredging is crucial to the future of Antwerp as a container port. Along the 70-kilometre channel between Vlissingen and the entrance to Antwerp harbour, known as the Westerschelde, the river is no longer deep enough at 12 points to allow the passage of the largest of the new container ships. They are currently only able to pass at high tide, which can mean valuable hours lost waiting outside the estuary.

The shallow points put Antwerp at a severe disadvantage compared with rival port Rotterdam, just up the coast. To complicate matters, most of the Westerschelde lies in Dutch waters. Flanders has already cleared its own small part of the channel but could go no further without Dutch cooperation.

So when a Dutch court ordered a stop to the dredging plans last year, it was seen as little short of sabotage. The court was ruling on a complaint by two nature organisations that the dredging would have detrimental effects on the conditions for wildlife along the water’s edge. These misgivings, in turn, were made worse by a decision by the Dutch government to change the way it ensured nature protection. Howls of protest followed what was seen as a reneging on treaty obligations by the government of Jan Peter Balkenende, with some populist Flemish politicians calling for a boycott on Dutch mussels.

Last week politicians from Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters on down welcomed the Dutch breakthrough. In Antwerp, meanwhile, the necessary ships have been booked from dredging companies Jan De Nul and Deme, the budget of €100 million from the Flemish Region is already set aside, and a starting date of 1 March was announced by public works minister Hilde Crevits. The works are expected to take two years to complete.