Nieuwe Waterweg

51°56′31″N 4°11′29″E / 51.94194°N 4.19139°E / 51.94194; 4.19139

Nieuwe Waterweg New Waterway
Mouth of the New Waterway at the North Sea
Location of Nieuwe Waterweg (including Het Scheur) in dark blue.
Location
Country	Netherlands
Province	South Holland
Physical characteristics
Source	Nieuwe Maas
• location	Maassluis
Mouth	Maasmond
• location	Hook of Holland
Length	20 km (12 mi)

The Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway") is a ship canal in the Netherlands from het Scheur (a branch of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta) west of the town of Maassluis to the North Sea at Hook of Holland: the Maasmond, where the Nieuwe Waterweg connects to the Maasgeul. It is the artificial mouth of the river Rhine.

The Nieuwe Waterweg, which opened in 1872 and has a length of approximately 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi), was constructed to keep the city and port of Rotterdam accessible to seafaring vessels as the natural Meuse-Rhine branches silted up.^[1] The Waterway is a busy shipping route since it is the primary access to one of the busiest ports in the world, the Port of Rotterdam. At the entrance to the sea, a flood protection system called Maeslantkering has been installed (completed in 1997). There are no bridges or tunnels across the Nieuwe Waterweg.