Port of Caen
Encyclopedia
The Port of Caen, Port de Caen, is the harbour
and port authority
of the Norman
city of Caen
, France
.
The port of Caen is composed of a series of basins on the Canal de Caen à la Mer
, linking Caen
to Ouistreham
, 15 km (9.3 m) downstream, on the English Channel
.
), Bassin de Calix, Bassin de Hérouville (miscellaneous) and Bassin de Blainville (cereals
). A new canal, as well as a new concert venue (the Cargö
), were built next to the junction between the Canal and the Bassin Saint-Pierre, creating a sharp contrast with the disused warehouses
.
The Bassin Saint-Pierre is used as a marina
and is kept afloat with a height adjustable dam on the River Orne
. The Nouveau Bassin, directly east of Saint-Pierre, although it receives cruise ships
and ferries
in need of berthing or repairs, is not in regular use http://www.caen.port.fr/web/statistiques/site2.php?include=sommaire_stats.php&img=bandeau_statistique_1&img2=bandeau_statistique_2&css3=lsf&css15=lsf.
The Viaduc de Calix, a large concrete viaduct
, passes over the Orne valley and the canal. It has been built high enough to permit the transit of large tonnage ships. The Bassin de Calix, directly below the viaduct is the only basin in regular use. Several cranes are used to load and unload cargo, mostly wood, onto lorries or trains.
Ships transporting cereals use Blainville wharf
. Ships are stationed directly against the canal wall and load and unloaded by cranes and cereal silos
.
ferry
port
.
The terminal building is situated in the Western part of the terminal. Two sets of locks, beyond the seaport, keep the canal
navigable towards Caen. The lock is composed to two lock basins and a lock keeper's tower.
Ouistreham is used for passenger transport; both car and on foot, as well as freight
by the Brittany Ferries
ferry
operator. It links Caen (Ouistreham) to Portsmouth
.
The entrance to the port is a dredged channel, 8 m deep, below the hydrographic zero and 90 m long. The access channel itself is two nautical miles (4 km) long, on a 184°5 axis, indicated by aligned luminous signalling. The channel, 150 m wide is bordered, to the West and the East by three sea mark
buoys
.
The outer harbour is a 250 m in diameter avoidance zone, permitting ferries
to turn around.
Ouistreham possesses two ferry berths; Poste T1 and Poste T2.
The terminal itself is divided in two areas, T1 and T2, respectively 15 400 m² and 56 100 m² in area. The terminal's total area is 100 000 m².
The two ships regularly using Ouistreham have for the past fifteen years been the MV Normandie
and the MV Duc de Normandie
. The MV Mont St Michel
has recently replace the Duc on the Caen-Portsmouth crossing.
such as the Kingfisher (2nd- Vendée Globe 2001, sailed by Ellen MacArthur
, and 1st Route du Rhum
2002) and Gartmore (9th- Vendée Globe 2001). As well as racing ships, the port of Caen is the regular port-of-call for sailing ships
, the Belem
and the HMY Britannia
.
Between 2004 and 2006, the Port of Caen has transported (in tons per year)http://www.caen.port.fr/web/statistiques/marchandise2.php?include=sommaire_stats.php&img=bandeau_statistique_1&img2=bandeau_statistique_2&css3=lsf&css14=lsf:
Harbor
A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...
and port authority
Port authority
In Canada and the United States a port authority is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body to operate ports and other transportation infrastructure.Port authorities are usually governed by boards or...
of the Norman
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
city of Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The port of Caen is composed of a series of basins on the Canal de Caen à la Mer
Canal de Caen à la Mer
Canal de Caen à la Mer also called the "Caen Canal") is a short canal in the department of Calvados, France, connecting the Port of Caen, in the city of Caen, downstream to the town of Ouistreham and the English Channel....
, linking Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
to Ouistreham
Ouistreham
Ouistreham is a commune in the Calvados department' in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry-harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town is about the mouth of the Canal de Caen à la...
, 15 km (9.3 m) downstream, on the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
.
Layout
The port of Caen was originally composed solely of the Bassin Saint-Pierre, in the centre of Caen. Increase in traffic explains the digging up and creation of four more; the Nouveau Bassin (cruisesCruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
), Bassin de Calix, Bassin de Hérouville (miscellaneous) and Bassin de Blainville (cereals
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
). A new canal, as well as a new concert venue (the Cargö
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
), were built next to the junction between the Canal and the Bassin Saint-Pierre, creating a sharp contrast with the disused warehouses
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
.
The Bassin Saint-Pierre is used as a marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
and is kept afloat with a height adjustable dam on the River Orne
Orne River
The Orne is a river in Normandy, within northwestern France. It discharges into the English Channel at the port of Ouistreham. Its source is in Aunou-sur-Orne, east of Sées...
. The Nouveau Bassin, directly east of Saint-Pierre, although it receives cruise ships
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
and ferries
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
in need of berthing or repairs, is not in regular use http://www.caen.port.fr/web/statistiques/site2.php?include=sommaire_stats.php&img=bandeau_statistique_1&img2=bandeau_statistique_2&css3=lsf&css15=lsf.
The Viaduc de Calix, a large concrete viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
, passes over the Orne valley and the canal. It has been built high enough to permit the transit of large tonnage ships. The Bassin de Calix, directly below the viaduct is the only basin in regular use. Several cranes are used to load and unload cargo, mostly wood, onto lorries or trains.
Ships transporting cereals use Blainville wharf
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
. Ships are stationed directly against the canal wall and load and unloaded by cranes and cereal silos
Storage silo
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are more commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use...
.
Ouistreham
At the entrance of the canal is the Port of Caen's cross-channelEnglish Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
.
The terminal building is situated in the Western part of the terminal. Two sets of locks, beyond the seaport, keep the canal
Canal de Caen à la Mer
Canal de Caen à la Mer also called the "Caen Canal") is a short canal in the department of Calvados, France, connecting the Port of Caen, in the city of Caen, downstream to the town of Ouistreham and the English Channel....
navigable towards Caen. The lock is composed to two lock basins and a lock keeper's tower.
Ouistreham is used for passenger transport; both car and on foot, as well as freight
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
by the Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries is a French ferry company that runs ships between France, the UK, Ireland and Spain.-1970s and 1980s:Following the provision of the deep-water port at Roscoff, the company commenced in January 1973 at the instigation of Alexis Gourvennec, when existing ferry companies showed...
ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
operator. It links Caen (Ouistreham) to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
.
The entrance to the port is a dredged channel, 8 m deep, below the hydrographic zero and 90 m long. The access channel itself is two nautical miles (4 km) long, on a 184°5 axis, indicated by aligned luminous signalling. The channel, 150 m wide is bordered, to the West and the East by three sea mark
Sea mark
A sea mark, also seamark and navigation mark, is a form of aid to navigation and pilotage aid which identifies the approximate position of a maritime channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boats, ships and seaplanes to navigate safely....
buoys
Buoy
A buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French or Middle Dutch origin, is now most commonly in UK English, although some orthoepists have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation...
.
The outer harbour is a 250 m in diameter avoidance zone, permitting ferries
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
to turn around.
Ouistreham possesses two ferry berths; Poste T1 and Poste T2.
- Poste T1 was built in 1986, it is capable of berthing ships up to 145 m long and 24 m wide. The minimum water depth is 5 m 50 cm at low tide.
- Poste T2 was built in 1992, it is capable of berthing ferries up to 165 m long and 26 m wide, on a dock wall 217 m long. Depth is kept at a minimum of 6 m above hydrographic zero.
- The tug boat is stationed between posts T1 and T2 in a 38 m long secluded.
The terminal itself is divided in two areas, T1 and T2, respectively 15 400 m² and 56 100 m² in area. The terminal's total area is 100 000 m².
The two ships regularly using Ouistreham have for the past fifteen years been the MV Normandie
MV Normandie
MV Normandie is a ferry operated by Brittany Ferries. She was built at Kvaener Masa Yards in Finland and has been sailing for Brittany Ferries since 1992.-Routes served:*Portsmouth-Caen 1992–present...
and the MV Duc de Normandie
MV Duc de Normandie
The Wisteria is a passenger car ferry operated by Acciona Trasmediterránea and FerryMaroc between Almeria and the Moroccan port of Nador.-History:...
. The MV Mont St Michel
MV Mont St Michel
The MV Mont St Michel is a ferry operated by Brittany Ferries. She was built at Van der Giessen de Noord shipyard in the Netherlands and has been sailing for Brittany Ferries since 2002. The Mont St Michel was to have been called the Deauville or the Honfleur but this was thought to be too similar...
has recently replace the Duc on the Caen-Portsmouth crossing.
Pleasure boating
The traffic has decreased during the last twenty years. The port of Caen has however been used to accommodate several racing yachtsYacht racing
Yacht racing is the sport of competitive yachting.While sailing groups organize the most active and popular competitive yachting, other boating events are also held world-wide: speed motorboat racing; competitive canoeing, kayaking, and rowing; model yachting; and navigational contests Yacht racing...
such as the Kingfisher (2nd- Vendée Globe 2001, sailed by Ellen MacArthur
Ellen MacArthur
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE is an English sailor, up until 2009, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in West Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo...
, and 1st Route du Rhum
Route du Rhum
The Route du Rhum is a transatlantic single-handed yacht race, which takes places every 4 years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, France and Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France...
2002) and Gartmore (9th- Vendée Globe 2001). As well as racing ships, the port of Caen is the regular port-of-call for sailing ships
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
, the Belem
Belem (ship)
The Belem is a three-masted barque from France.*Construction year: 1896, launched on 10 June 1896*Maiden voyage: on July 31, 1896 to Montevideo and Belém, Brasil - her namesake*Shipbuilding: Chantiers Adolphe Dubigeon, Nantes ....
and the HMY Britannia
HMY Britannia
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former Royal Yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the 83rd such vessel since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. She is the second Royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the famous racing cutter built for The Prince of Wales...
.
Statistics
The Port of Caen has, during July 2006, transported 317 274 tons of cargo and 133 959 passengers (32 538 cars and 9 483 lorries).Between 2004 and 2006, the Port of Caen has transported (in tons per year)http://www.caen.port.fr/web/statistiques/marchandise2.php?include=sommaire_stats.php&img=bandeau_statistique_1&img2=bandeau_statistique_2&css3=lsf&css14=lsf:
| Nature of cargo | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Coal Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure... |
29 854 | 19 044 | 9 762 |
| Scandinavian wood | 28 076 | 26 524 | 15 569 |
| Exotic wood | 81 931 | 95 216 | 53 888 |
| Molasses Molasses Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,... |
5 294 | 9 059 | 0 |
| Cereal Cereal Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran... |
339 629 | 338 830 | 216 187 |
| Animal food | 0 | 13 193 | 3 159 |
| Manure Manure Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are trapped by bacteria in the soil... |
110 375 | 91 322 | 51 460 |
| Metal Metal A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light... scrap Scrap Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value... |
113 037 | 78 292 | 57 391 |
| Ligne Algérie (Sudcargos) |
5 234 | 911 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous | 62 270 | 61 349 | 87 162 |