It is not entirely clear how many there are exactly. Michelle Bouwman, spokesperson for the province, puts it at ‘perhaps a thousand’. Waterway inspector Daisy thinks ‘thousands’. Whichever of the two estimates is correct, the fact is that the Ringvaart and a number of other waters in the south of the province are packed with abandoned and rotting boats.
“In 2018, the province changed the mooring policy for boats on waters such as the Ringvaart,” Bouwman explains. “We have been enforcing this since January, which has already resulted in hundreds of boats being removed.”
Owners will be billed
“It is not the case that the province just goes along the quays to tow boats away,” says Daisy. “It starts with several letters that we send to the owner, if we can trace them. Then they have eight weeks to move their boat or apply for an exemption. If we do not receive a response in the first weeks, we will even another sign placed near the boat.”
The boats are then towed to a depot, where they remain for thirteen weeks. The owner can still pick up the boat. Only then is the boat sold or dismantled for parts. In principle, the costs are recovered from the owner, but he is often unknown or does not respond.