ARCHIVE APRIL 2008

The cosiest canal cruise in Amsterdam

“Hey little girl, where is the captain of this boat?”

That is usually the first question of most passengers who step on board for a cruise on the cosiest canal cruise in Amsterdam. When skipper Jasmijn Klarenbeek replies that she is the one, the next question is almost inevitable:

“may I ask you please how old you are?”  That question really means: “Are you old enough to sail this boat and do you have the necessary papers?”

Jasmijn is petite and she looks like the captain’s little sister, but she has had her commercial sailing  licence for several years already and she owns a small tourboat company.

She is 30 years of age, old enough to see that sort of questions as a compliment. She loves her job and enjoys telling stories about it:

“When my passengers discover that this is my profession, they usually all agree that this must be one of the nicest jobs in Amsterdam. Of course I agree with that, my work is always fun and always different. The only disadvantage is

all the paperwork that comes with it, and cleaning, carrying things on board and spending many hours at my computer to reply to emails, write invoices etcetera.

My reward for all those dull jobs is the actual sailing of the cruises, which is actually the smallest part of my work.

By the time my passengers understand that I do have some experience with boats, they usually ask if I can please tell them about  interesting things we pass on the way. But every house along the canals has an interesting history. There is so much to tell about this beautiful city. I am not really a tourguide, so I have to improvise and make a selection. That is not so difficult, except when you have to sail a boat like the ‘Lily’ at the same time. One foot steady in the steering wheel to keep the boat on course - the Lily wants to turn right all the time because of a steering deviation. If you let go of the wheel for one second you have a boat full of screaming passengers because she’ll sail into the side of the canal or worse, into another tourboat!

So with one foot in the wheel I lean over backwards and down to flip the switch from CD player to microphone and change the volume, at the same time avoiding pleasure boats and communicating with other tourboats on the

marine telephone, hilarious situations occur frequently.

When something does go wrong, for instance when a small boat suddenly appears from under a bridge and its outboard fails so I have to make an emergency stop to avoid

disasters while the wind or rebounding propeller current cause the boat to touch the canalside wall, my passengers realize that it isn’t as easy as it seems and give me a thundering applause. Even better: if I play  ‘bow-prop’ by pushing the boat off the side by hand, or when I make a sharp turn with full power (necessary to make the turn properly but not so nice for passengers on he rear deck)

and then manouver  the boat through the smallest canals, the passengers often remark that the big tourboats probably can’t get there. They don’t know that the real tourboats

were designed for the Amsterdam canals and can do the small canals more easily that the ‘Lily’, which is actually an old cargo boat for open waters with limited manoeuvrability.

Across from Central Station, on the corner of Singel and Brewer’s Canal is the Haarlemmer Lock. If you want fun on the waterside in the summertime, that lock is the place to be. A very busy location, all the tourboats turn from the Brewer’s canal into the lock to go to Central station.

When I have to turn into the Brewers Canal, I always report well ahead of time on the marine telephone, sometimes five or more tourboats come from there to make the turn. I wait patiently for them all to come out, show my passengers the narrowest house in the city and the famous cat-boat in the meantime, I know it’s going to take a while. But the unsuspecting skipper who takes his pleasure boat out on the first sunny Sunday of the year and tries to sail into the Brewer’s canal, can count on a deafening blow on the horn when he tries to get close to the bridge. Panic every time until all the tourboats have come out.

My funniest action on the Amsterdam canals:

One time I called the animal ambulance because a passenger saw a swan swimming in circles with one paw sticking up in the air. We thought that paw was damaged and felt sorry for the beast. The ambulance brothers reassured us: paw in the air is a swan’s way to take a rest!”

http://www.jasmijn-rondvaart.nl

Captain Jasmijn

The ´Lelie´ in the harbour

Jasmijn improvises as tour guide

The Chocolate cruise, Jasmijn´s specialty

Air pollution and traffic infarcts are rapidly making all the big cities in the world unlivable.

More concrete and asphalt has been seen as a solution to this problem for 50 years already, but the problems have only grown worse.

Traffic jams totalling 400 miles or more are becoming ‘normal’ in our 200 mile long country.

Already since the 17^th century,  Amsterdam  has had an enormous advantage over all other cities with her most intricate system of navigable waterways in the world: her famous canals.

That super-efficient pipeline for transporting goods has given the city a golden age of world power and trader’s wealth and it is still functioning. Even today, all the goods and merchandise the city needs can be brought in over water. If all power failed, it could still even be done with human muscle power.

The rediscovery of that advantage makes Mokum Mariteam by far the most interesting news about the Amsterdam canals in 2008. They replaced human muscle by clean and relatively small electrical motors for a fleet of sloops and other vessels for cargo transport. The air will be cleaner, the roads less congested and the city more livable.

Transport by water clears the air

Is the slogan of Mokum Mariteam. A joint venture  of 6 participating companies has initiated zero emission transport of goods, waste and garbage through the canals of Amsterdam.

An initiative of ICOVA, market leader in waste disposal and recycling. They gathered experience in joint projects in the Rotterdam area and at Sail Amsterdam 2005, where they had boats sailing as garbage collecting points. Participant Royal SAAN is a prominent  specialist in unusual transports. Last year they transported a Boeing through the city on a barge. BNN is the biggest local supplier of building materials, with facilities along the canals. Three canal tourboat companies supply expertise and vessels: Canal Company, De Nederlanden and ‘t Smidtje.

Mokum Mariteam started last November wit a ‘bio-week’. Vegetables were brought into the city and garbage was loaded as return cargo out. In 2008, a number of projects have started. Results are becoming visible. The library

of the University of Amsterdam was recently moved with boats. In the narrow streets around the building it’s almost impossible for trucks to park and at night the cost of personnel is double. In this case, using boats meant cutting cost.

Because Mokum Mariteam uses personnel and equipment of the participating companies,  the joint venture can operate very efficiently. Each project is analyzed for bottlenecks and efficiency. After the pilot-year 2008 there will be a marketing-mix with transport facilities from parcel to Boeing. The main focus will be on water transport, with additional facilities on the shore for companies that have no facilities along the canals.  

A complicated task, considering the current legislature on health, environment and hygiene. 

ICOVA director Cor Gerritsen considers that to be the great challenge in this revolutionary project.

The most recent activity of Mokum Mariteam is the delivery of building materials and disposal of waste for the renovation of Hotel De l’Europe, one of the top hotels in Amsterdam. There is ample mooring space for boats on that location and again strict rules about parking trucks.  

In the past, there were open garbage barges in the canals. The Amsterdammers could smell them from a mile away. Mokum Mariteam introduces the 21^st century version of waterbound waste disposal, using electrically driven barges with pressurized, sealed garbage containers. The Amsterdam municipality is requested

to participat in this project, which would save countless garbage bags from ending up in the canals and jamming countless boat propellers.

Many local construction companies are interested.

They all need heavy building materials to be delivered

on their construction sites. Boats can transport a lot of weight with relatively small power, and they are not hampered by parking and traffic jam delays. With the mobile elevators and other unloading equipment of Royal SAAN, building materials can be delivered in impossible places.

Mokum Mariteam is trying to creating a mix of usefulness and necessity in a way that pleases everyone.

Relieving the pressure on our environment with innovative concepts. Support from the municipal authorities is growing because the prize to win is

cleaner air. Isn’t that what everybody wants?

Report by Yvonne Wakker

Renovation of Hotel de l'Europe (photo Dirk Gillissen)

A sailing Boeing (photo Robert Meerding)

The team of Mokum Mariteam

Lost Investment Canal

The ‘Kostverlorenvaart’ (Lost Investment Canal), is the main waterway for cargo transport through Amsterdam. One of the oldest in the city, it was already dug in the year 1413.

The project was commissioned by Count William IV of Holland, who wanted a safe transport connection between the cities of Leiden and Amsterdam.

There was fierce protest against the canal from the Amsterdam municipal authorities, who feared inundation of the city by possible enemies who could sabotage the waterlocks in the canal. So they put up a dam just outside the city limits. The ‘cost’ (investment) was ‘verloren’ (lost), which explains the somewhat strange name of

the canal.

It wasn’t until 400 years later that the canal acquired its intended function. In 1808 the dam was replaced by a waterlock.

 Until 1807, the canal formed the border

of the city on the western side.

 In one location, the wall along the canal looks quite different, indicating another bit of history, as you can see on the third photo. In the 1930’s, ABA (Amsterdam

Fuel Merchants) had a loading dock and storage space on that location with an electrically powered unloading and transport facility for coal that was ultramodern for those days.

The crane for unloading the coalships had its legs on the corners of that protruding section of the canal-wall. A grabber that moved on a monorail across the road and over the storage area could dump the coal straight from the ships into the silo’s, already sorted by size and weight.

Under the silo’s, the workers could fill bags of paper and burlap with coal for distribution and sale. To protect the road below the monorail from falling coal, a wooden platform was built under the crane.

This unloading facility was demolished in 1969

 By our editor  Kees Hilgers

Ultra-modern unloading facility in the 1930's

Wooden platform protecting the road from falling coal

Protruding section of the canal wall    

Spring in the city

Still haven't noticed much of spring, but inbetween rain and sleet, nature goes its course like almost normal.

On the raft by a boat on the Amstel river

a lot of raucus was going on. Probably another birth-party, the birds were

tweeting cheerfully

Not bothered at all by the passing tourboats, which were crowding the canals again. Traffic jams in the Gentlemen's Canal, four boats were trying to pass each other in one spot. While our writing shipdog Dorus was watching the neighborhood from his bench, he saw a coot try to squat a little garbage boat.
The coot inspected the little boat while we came closer for a better look. But the coot had gone again, the boat was probably not good enough for our luxury Canalbelt Coot.

Or maybe the traffic sign scared him off.

Anyway, the sun kept shining and my eye caught the trees along the canal: budding out and acquiring a pretty lightgreen haze.

A welcome sign of spring that cheers people up.

While the weather is so nice, some people realize that it won't be long before we'll have our first big celebration of the year.

On April 30th, our Queens Day, the canals will be dense again with everfything that floats and sails.

But first, the boats have to be made ready for a sailing season that will hopefully be warm and sunny. but most of them are still in hybernation, waiting for real warm weather in the Summer.

At least for one day it felt like it might become a nice summer again this year.

                                                                 Text and photo's: Yvonne Wakker

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