Since the ever growing dimensions of all vessel types coming to the Flemish harbours which started in the mid 80’s of last century, the research at Flanders Hydraulics Research, a laboratory belonging to the Flemish Government, concerning harbour infrastructure and fairways was shifting from structural based examinations to ship related examinations. The key question was and is: how can an existing or new-built ship access the shallow water areas in Belgium safely and smoothly? With the installation of the first ship manoeuvring simulator in 1989 and the Towing Tank for Manoeuvres in Shallow water (co-operation Flanders Hydraulics Research- Ghent University) in 1992 fundamental and applied research studies followed successively. In May 2008 this joint work resulted in the Knowledge Centre Manoeuvring in Shallow and Confined Water (www.shallowwater.be) established to fix, extend and provide the scientific know-how on the behaviour of vessels in shallow and confined navigation areas. The presentation will give an overview of the latest fundamental researches executed at FHR and UGent concerning the influence of shallow water manoeuvring, bank effects and ship-ship interaction. Based on model tests with scale models of about 4 m length forces have been measured and the influence of different test parameters have been examined. Combining these measurements with mathematical models incorporated in the simulators gives the opportunity to evaluate new situations together with the pilots of the Flemish Pilotage. This research has been used to evaluate the accessibility of the largest containerships (the E-type vessel of Maersk Sealand and the 366 m vessels of other shipping companies as MSC and CMA-CGM) to the port of Antwerp and the port of Zeebrugge and the largest LNG carriers to the LNG terminal in Zeebrugge. New limits have been examined for the West lock in Terneuzen for Kamsarmax vessels where the useful width of 38 m for the lock is compared with the vessel’s beam of 37 m. This high blockage introduces lock effects that determines the behaviour entering the lock
