The Port of Manchester was a port in Salford, North West England, until its closure in 1982. It was created as a customs port on 1 January 1894, four months before the official opening of the Manchester Ship Canal. It extended along the whole 36-mile (58 km) length of the ship canal, from Eastham in the west to Manchester in the east, absorbing the Port of Runcorn, which had been created in 1862. The new port was only 3.74 miles (6.02 km) from the Port of Liverpool's boundary at Herculaneum Dock, and 2.4 miles (3.9 km) from the Port of Garston. The ship canal transformed Manchester from a landlocked city into a major sea port, at its height the third-busiest port in the United Kingdom. Once delivered to the port, goods could be transported to other parts of the country such as Leeds to the east, and up to 100 miles (160 km) south as far as Birmingham.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
Port of Manchester in the context of Port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchester and Duluth; these access the sea via rivers or canals. Because of their roles as ports of entry for immigrants as well as soldiers in wartime, many port cities have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes throughout their histories.
Ports are extremely important to the global economy; 70% of global merchandise trade by value passes through a port. For this reason, ports are also often densely populated settlements that provide the labor for processing and handling goods and related services for the ports. Today by far the greatest growth in port development is in Asia, the continent with some of the world's largest and busiest ports, such as Singapore and the Chinese ports of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan. As of 2020, the busiest passenger port in Europe is the Port of Helsinki in Finland. Nevertheless, countless smaller ports do exist that may only serve their local tourism or fishing industries.
Port of Manchester in the context of Manchester
Manchester (/ˈmæntʃɪstər, -tʃɛs-/) is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of over 589,000 in 2024. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million.
The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort (castra) of Mamucium or Mancunium, established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand significantly around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. Manchester attained city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and linking the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west. Its fortune declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation, and the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration. Following considerable redevelopment, Manchester was the host city for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.