 During the construction works concerning the elevation of the Gabriel Theunis bridge over the Albert Canal, tram traffic between Merksem and the Sportpaleis will not be possible.The elevation of the bridge to a height of 9.1 m is necessary to allow bigger ships on the canal, as a part of a general program to increase the share of water transport and lower that of road cargo transport in the congested Antwerp region.Works were originally planned to start in 2014, but due to delays only started in April 2019.