Building firms BAM and VolkerWessels are to book a €200m loss on the new sea lock in IJmuiden.

Infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said in a letter to parliament that a design fault led to the loss, which will result in a further 27-month delay in completing the lock, the Financieele Dagblad revealed.

The lock, which connects the North Sea and the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam port, was originally due to be completed in late 2019, but the deadline has now been put back to January 2022.

The minister said that in addition to the losses booked by the building companies, costs to the government would also be much higher. Van Nieuwenhuizen stressed that the government would not pay compensation for the design fault.

The new lock, 70 metres wide, 500 metres long and 18 metres deep, will allow bigger cargo and cruise ships to reach Amsterdam. When commissioned in 2015, the budget for the project was set at €600m.