Asylum ship Silja Europa will leave Velsen-Noord in about a week. Of the thousand asylum seekers who stayed there, 264 remain. They temporarily go to other emergency shelters in the area. At the end of August or September they will return to Velsen-Noord, where they will be accommodated in a smaller ship at the same location on the VOB quay.
The departure of the Silja Europa from the VOB quay in Velsen-Noord was announced today by the Velsen college. The ship has been there since September 21 last year. It was the intention that the ship would stay until last March 1, but that ended up being much longer.
The developments surrounding the ship caused quite a stir in Velsen-Noord. Some of the residents were last year not happy with the arrival and walked in a protest march.
In the end, the ship stayed longer than agreed, despite the negative result of a survey in Velsen-Noord. A majority of those surveyed said no to a longer stay, but the Silja Europa remained anyway. Much to the anger of local residents.
An alliance of companies was right against the deportation of asylum seekers from Velsen-North. “We are screaming for people here. There are six hundred vacancies at Tata Steel alone. And we send those people away,” Cees Duijn of InnoMax told NH.
Transfer location in Rotterdam
Most asylum seekers who stayed at the Silja Europa have already been transferred to other reception locations in the Netherlands. The remaining 264 people have ‘ties in the region’, such as children who go to school in Castricum and Heemskerk. It is unclear where exactly they will be collected until the new ship is in Velsen-Noord.
It is not entirely clear when the Silja will leave Europe exactly; that depends on a number of factors, such as weather conditions. The ship will go to Rotterdam where it will become a transfer location for status holders.