Port of Le Havre
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The Port of Le Havre, Port Autonome du Havre, is the harbour and port authority of the Norman city of Le Havre, France.
The port of Le Havre is composed of a series of basins, the Canal de Tancarville and the Grand Canal du Havre, linking Le Havre to the Seine, near the Pont de Tancarville, 24 km ( 14.9 m) upstream.
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[edit] Port Authority of Le Havre
The port of Le Havre is managed by a state agency called Port autonome du Havre (port authority of Le Havre). The flag of the Port Authority is made of a white logo on a blue background and flies in front of the authority's headquarters.
[edit] History
The port of Le Havre is on the English Channel on the Estuary of the Seine and is a natural haven. King Francis Ist decided in 1517 to build a heaven (French: Le Havre de Grace, "the grace heavens") to give shelter to the ships and vessels of our subjects navigating on the ocean sea (tenir en sûreté les navires et vaisseaux de nos sujets naviguant sur la mer océane). The king was striking two birds with one stone, indeed he created a new opportunity to conduct commerce and established a strong military defence, the region having suffered for two hundred years of English attacks.
Although the site was ideally strategically placed, at the entrance to the mouth of the Seine and to the East of the bay of Seine, both ports of Harfleur and Leure were already mudded up and the same future awaited the new port of La Havre.
The project comprised of:
- Building walls to protect the future Bassin du Roy as well two towers bordering it.
- Building a 64 m long dock wall. With the tide expected to last for two to three hours.
- Digging a canal to the port of Harfleur.
Work began in April 1517 and ended in 1524. The canal was only dug up in the 1600s. The first years of the port constituted a strong battle against pebbles and mud sent in large quantity into the harbour due to the configuration of the protecting walls. Several new walls were built along the coast to prevent crosscurrents bringing more material from the sea.
During the XVIth century little is done to the harbour itself although fortifications were built around the growing village and citadel. It is during the XVIIth century that Richelieu and Colbert begin a new phase of building. A new citadel was built in 1627 to replace to previous building, to the East of the harbour.
The Bassin du Roy was until then still reserved to the French Royal Navy. New stone docks and piers were built and a new lock built at its entrance in 1667/1669. An arsenal was built in 1669. Hundreds of ships were built there until 1823. In 1626 the Bassin de la Barre was opened to vessels and in 1669 Colbert and Vauban inaugurated the canal to Harfleur. this would permit a drainage of the swamps to the East of Le Havre and the establishment of industries requiring naval transport.
During the XVIIth century, the Havrais (inhabitants of Le Havre) were particularly interested in cod fishing. The port developed considerably during the following century, particularly in slave trading. During the French Revolution, the prosperity is such that projects are afoot to extend the harbour.
Due to the augmentation of tonnage, larger ships, still not permitted to use Le Havre due to military preoccupations had to load their cargo onto barges and transport it to the port of Rouen.
The Bassin du Commerce and Bassin de la Barre, built under the Lamandé plan of 1787 and put into execution between 1789 and 1815, were opened in 1820. After the troubled times of the Revolution and the Empire, the port now free from military purpose became open to commerce and began to thrive.
Between 1825 and 1865, the ships' draft using the harbour had doubled with the introduction of steam. New docks were needed and built to the East of the then installations:
- Between 1840 and 1843: Bassin Vauban.
- Between 1845 and 1859: Bassin de Leure.
- 1845: enlarging the entrance to the port from 32 m to 45 m.
- 1847: Bassin de la Floride.
- 1862: Transatlantic lock and Quai de New–York (New York wharf).
Between 1865 and 1885, the draft of ships is once more doubled and yet another expansion of the port was planned. The Bassin Bellot was opened in 1887, this as well as the Bassin de Leure constitue the large basins. The Canal de Tancarville was also built, linking Le Havre with the Seine further upstream and removing some of the difficulties with navigating in the estuary. Demolition of the Francis Ist tower occurred in 1861 due to the enlarging in 1874 of the port entrance to 100 m.
Modern equippement was installed in 1864, 1879 and 1887. Floating and dock cranes were installed as well as warehouses. Industry developed along the Canal Vauban and Canal de Tancarville. In 1871 the Bassin de la Citadelle was opened (after demolishing the citadel) and was linked to the harbour by a lock.
The large basins were only accessible by a single lock, thus locking the basins for use at high tide only. This penalised the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique who was using the Bassin the Leure for its transatlantic ships bound for New-York since 1864. Ships of up to 200 m in length used the port at that time.
Due to competition by English and German harbours, a vast program of modernisation and expansion was voted in two acts of parliament:
- 19 March 1895 law; building a harbour between the North and South walls, the Quai de la Marée and a double lock. These were built just before 1914.
- 11 February 1909 law; building the large Bassin de Marée, 1000 m in length, for cruise ships. This was built in 1929.
Traffic increased between both world wars, large transatlantic ships such as the SS Normandie make their appearance. Petroleum traffic also increased during that period.
An oil terminal was built in 1926 along the South pier, this led to the construction of a refinery at Gonfreville-l'Orcher in 1933. The port remained unchanged until the end of World War II when it was completely destroyed. A plan of mass restoration was put into effect and rebuilding ended in 1965.
Traffic increased from 10 million tons in 1950 to 89 million tons in 1973. This led to many more installation to be built between 1966 and 1971. The extensions consisted of the enlargement of the Bassin de Marée, building a new basin, the Bassin Sud-Est, a junction canal with the Canal de Tancarville and a large double lock, the Ecluse François 1er. The Ecluse François 1er, one of the biggest locks in the world, was built 400 m long, 67 m wide and 24 m deep, and to accept ships of up to 250 000 tons [1].
The Grand Canal du Havre was dug up, opening the large plain South of the Canal de Tancarville to new industry, mainly oil and containers. Container traffic increased thanks to the construction of four container terminals:
- Terminal Atlantique at the Bassin de Marée in 1968–1970;
- Terminal Europe at the Bassin Intérieur in 1971-1974;
- Terminal Océan at the Bassin Intérieur in 1975-1980;
- Terminal Asie et Amériques at the Bassin de Marée in 1992-1995.
A large industrial estate of approximately 1 500 hectares was nuilt along the canal du Havre. Large companies such as Renault, Hispano-Suiza, Elf, Atochem, Goodyear, Air Liquide and Lafarge have built factories and warehouses there.
The last two terminals to be built was designed to accept new post-panamax container ships (width superior to 32.20 m) and of large capacity (higher than 8000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units). Since 1968 traffic of containers has increased from 100 000 to 2 million TEU.
Due to the increase in oil, a new terminal, Port of Le Havre-Antifer was built in 1973 15 km North of Le Havre. Ships larger than 550 000 tons started using the new port in 1976.
Although transatlantic traffic disappeared in 1974, ferry and cargo transport, particularly container has assured the survival of the port. Links with inland France were consolidated in 1985 with the opening of the A15 (A13) and the Pont de Normandie (A29) in 1995.
[edit] Crosschannel transport
Le Havre is currently served by Irish Lines and LD Lines, linking it to Ireland and Portsmouth. Both ferry companies operate from two separate terminals. Irish Lines and the MV Saint Patrick II operate from the city centre, whilst LD Lines operate from the docks.
[edit] Statistics
The port of Le Havre is the largest in France in matters of traffic [2] and the fifth in France with 72.2 million tons transported. During 2005, 6 965 ships used the port of Le Havre, transporting 23 million tons of miscellaneous merchandise.
It is the largest container port in France with 2.1 million TEU transported in 2005, 60% of France's traffic in containers. 40% of all oil entering France is transported via La Havre.
Between December 2004 and December 2005, the Port of Le Havre has transported (in tons per year)[3]:
| Nature of cargo | 2004 | 2005 |
| Unrefined Oil | 3 492 788 | 3 184 246 |
| Refined Oil | 913 832 | 861 461 |
| Gasoil | 73 981 | 44 945 |
| Other liquids | 114 490 | 152 028 |
| Cereal | 0 | 0 |
| Animal food | 0 | 23 605 |
| Coal | 377 467 | 261 219 |
| Cement | 36 372 | 39 780 |
| Miscellaneous including containers |
2 047 590 | 1 648 043 |
[edit] External links
- (French) Port Autonome du Havre
