The Dutch government is overflowing with immigrants. They deny that one of the reasons they’re putting farmers out of business is to grab the land for migrant housing. Even so, they have a huge migrant housing crisis. It’s so bad that they resorted to renting out three entire cruise ships. Now, the big problem is finding a place to park them.
The Dutch pamper their immigrants
Despite a whole bunch of criticism from relief organizations, compounded by “opposition from local municipalities and residents,” plans are moving forward. “Details have been confirmed for the second and third ferry to be chartered.”
The Dutch government, Maritime Executive writes, continues “to search for ports to accommodate the ships.”
Dutch Parliament got a briefing recently on the plans by Eric van der Burg. He’s the “justice minister who is charged with overseeing the refugee efforts.” The first thing he told them was that they already gave up on the idea to keep the ships anchored off the coast. The activist groups came unglued when they got wind of that option because it sounded a lot like “jailing the refugees.”
A cruise ship in the Netherlands will house as many as 1,500 Ukrainian refugees, the operator said Friday. https://t.co/ojXmqF0VT1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 1, 2022
According to NL Times, refugee organization Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland was one of the biggest opponents. “You don’t need research to think that you can’t do that to people who have fled from war and violence. You take in asylum seekers as a society and not from a distance at sea.”
That means overworked Dutch staffers, who can’t find any food in their grocery stores because of the farmer protests, are spending their days dialing up port facilities on the phone. Mark Rutte’s administration is “seeking docks to place the three ferries at.”
If all goes well, “they expect the first ship will now be opened by September 1.” The key challenges to overcome at this point are “the logistical problems of providing transportation back and forth to the ships anchored offshore as well as the challenges of supplying the ships while at anchor.”
Tallink confirmed the charter
The best option the Dutch officials have is a possible berth “in Velsen, a municipality on the north side of the North Sea Canal west of Amsterdam.” There’s been friction over it from the beginning.
The town council refused the deal saying “its dock was not suitable.” van der Burg didn’t believe them and started an investigation. If they have to, they threaten to “upgrade the dock to accommodate a ferry,” likely the “Cypriot-flagged Aurelia, which is believed already on its way to the Netherlands.”
The backup plan lists “Vlissingen, near the southern border with Belgium.” It might work if they can overcome “local opposition.” Another frustration is “Zaanstad recently turned down the plan citing pollution concerns.” That’s embarrassing to Rutte because the Dutch government says farmers are the only ones who pollute.
The farmers are fighting back this week by escalating the pollution. The Netherlands is filled with the smell of tires burning on the highways, along with haybales and all of their garbage. They spiced the garbage with asbestos just to cheese off the cleanup crews and add to the cost by making Rutte declare it a hazmat situation.
As a search for docking facilities for the migrant ships continues at a frantic pace, “Estonia ferry operator Tallink confirmed that it has chartered two more of its vessels to provide refugee housing. The company, which has previously chartered vessels to Estonia and Scotland also to provide accommodations.”
The Dutch are looking forward to stashing their asylees on the “Silja Europa and Galaxy after the busy summer season on the Baltic.” The Silja Europa has 1,500 cabins with a total capacity of 3,123 passengers. The Galaxy has 795 cabins.
