I actually went to have a look at this ship a week ago but unfortunately they launched it yesterday as I was on my way home. A friend of mine took these for me so i thought you might find them interesting.
The process is quite interesting. The ship sits on a sloping slipway but rests on wedges to level the top surface. In between the slips are vertical supports which are jacked up to take the majority of the weight. When it is time to launch the jacks are removed, the slips greased, the locks are taken out of the wedges and the ship slides sideways into the canal. This yard is just outside a town called Groningan in Holland and quite a way from the sea so it's a long canal transit for the ship to get to the sea.
