News

For the second time this year, the Coast Guard operation Opera took place from 18 till 29 October in the cold waters of the Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone in the North Sea. This operation was organized in the framework of a cooperation agreement among various Coast Guard partners.

Found an explosive?
You'd much rather not encounter an explosive in your nets or on board but when it does happen, this chart of explosives may come in handy.

From 27 May until 30 May the eleventh edition of 'Ostend at Anchor' (Oostende voor Anker) will take place. This year it's all about the Ostend privateers.
No less than 200 ships take part and you can board certain vessels to take a sailing trip. The quays also provide plenty of entertainment: exhibitions, free concerts and a maritime - inspired market.

Ostend port is restructuring its entrance. By building two new breakwaters, deeper in sea and by dredging a new fairway, a broader and straighter port entrance will be created, allowing larger vessels to enter the port. This will also bring about an increase in capacity. In the past, vessels had to navigate an elongated S-shaped approach route to enter Ostend port. Only vessels up to 160 metres were able to do so, bigger vessels did not have sufficient manoeuvring space.

Works have progressed sufficiently to allow a new leading light to be taken into service shortly.
On February 8th 2010, at ten o’clock, leading light (128°) will be extinguished and the approach route will no longer be navigable in this direction. At the same time, the new leading light (143°) will be taken into service, together with the new approach route, which will be marked by three pairs of lateral buoys.