Future-proof control for Belgium’s waterway

Steering through the currents of change

Modernizing a canal that carries millions of tons of goods each year was no small task. De Vlaamse Waterweg, together with EQUANS and Siemens, had to address several critical challenges to ensure reliable, safe, and efficient operations for the future. Close cooperation and the right technology kept the project on course.

Future-Proof and Redundant Infrastructure

For critical infrastructure, reliability is non-negotiable. The canal system needed to be both future-proof and fully fault tolerant to guarantee uninterrupted service. Together with EQUANS, Siemens delivered a resilient backbone built on the redundant SIMATIC S7-1518HF which took over for the previous central PLC.

“If you follow these programming rules, you won't have to make any changes to the programming when you switch from a single central PLC to redundant PLCs – you'll only need to reconfigure. We relinked all the PLCs at 20 sites in a single night and everything worked right away.”

— James Brits, automation project manager at EQUANS

Charting the course ahead

The modernization of the Dessel-Turnhout-Schoten canal has already transformed daily operations – making them faster, safer, and more reliable. But for De Vlaamse Waterweg, this is only the beginning of a broader journey. Vessel waiting times have already been reduced significantly, and in the future, ships may even receive digital guidance similar to a “Google Maps for waterways”, with estimated arrival times and optimized navigation speeds. The long-term vision is to steer all Flemish waterways from three centralized control rooms in Evergem, Willebroek, and Hasselt. This next step will allow even better service with the same workforce and keep the region’s waterways on a steady course for decades to come.