Some €42m was reserved for carrying out the dredging work last year and another €58m will be reserved this year for the subsequent work.
Opening up the navigation channel in the Westerschelde is of great importance for the economic development in Flanders and the Netherlands.Thanks to this deepening, the competitive position of the port of Antwerp, which makes an important contribution to Flemish economy, will be considerably strengthened. The expected profits resulting from the project up to 2030 are estimated at between € 0.7bn and €1.1bn for Flanders.
A forward looking and economically responsible maritime access to Flemish seaports is one of the most important policy priorities of the Flemish government. The area from Vlissingen to 500m past the Deurganckdok will benefit from the deepening. The first involves channels for deep bulk ships, starting with deepening the Zandvliet sill. The latest generation of large containerships, with capacities to 12.000  will be able to navigate unhindered to the port of Antwerp right to the Deurganckdok. The navigation channel will be broadened by up to 370m between the Europaterminal and up to 500m upstream of the Deurganckdok.
Work on widening the navigation channe,l including the creation of a turning zone in Flanders,  must wait for the start of measures to protect the environment. Provision of the permits for these measures is planned for October 2008. After this it will be possible to start with adjusting the dyke and widening (including the turning zone) upstream of the Europaterminal up to 500m upstream of the Deurganckdok.
In the Netherlands works will be able to start after permits have been issued. In nautical terms, the sills from East to West will be deepened. It is possible that this planning will be adjusted temporarily in compliance with protection of nature. Marine specialists are looking into which sill should be dealt with first to benefit as soon as possible from the increased tide windows during deeper draft ships can transit. Deepening of the navigation channel is planned for completion by the end of 2009.
Following a European tender, the dredging works for the Scheldt were awarded to the Tijdelijke Handelsvereniging Zeeschelde (NV Dredging International, NV Ondernemingen Jan De Nul en NV Baggerwerken Decloedt en Zn.). The timetable was set up with the aim of finishing widening works of the navigation channel by the end of 2009, as was agreed between Flanders and the Netherlands.

Some 14m m3 of dredged sediment will be removed, more or less evenly split between the Westerschelde (the estuary through to the Belgium/Netherlands border) and the Beneden-Zeeschelde (Belgium/Netherlands border to Antwerp). Some 7m m3 of dredged sediment will be removed from the Zandvliet and Frederik sills on Belgian territory. On Dutch territory the sills are located mainly in the east (Bath and Valkenisse sills) where more than half the volume on Dutch territory will be dredged.
When disposing the dredged sediment, account will be taken of the morphological developments of the Scheldt. In the Netherlands the sediment will mainly be disposed of in the shallows, which will create 50 to 100 hectares of new nature. In the Beneden-Zeeschelde, one third will be placed on land as building sediment for future projects on the Left Bank of the Scheldt, one third will be useded in the Schaar van Ouden Doel to help with reclamation and one third will be re-used for filling up the deep wells in the Beneden-Zeeschelde.

Breaking ground with a symbolic first spade full of soil, Flemish Minister-President Kris Peeters said, 'As minister for Flemish Port Policy it is my role to ensure that the port of Antwerp remains as attractive as possible for the international companies who have to take important decisions regarding traffic and destinations. This historic deepening ensures that the port of Antwerp will remain on maps around the world as the port that provides speedy access for the latest-generation of ships.'