The Port of Ghent, capital of East Flanders in Belgium, lies where the Lys and Scheldt Rivers meet. The Port of Ghent was founded about 800 AD. Maintaining a direct connection with the sea has always been critical to the city’s prosperity.
Port History
In the 13th Century, the Lieve canal was constructed, but the river soon sanded up. In the 16th Century, the Sasse canal became a busy route for trade, but the Wars of Religion ended navigation. In the 17th Century, the Ghent-Bruges-Ostend canal was dug, but the Port of Ghent lost its trade privileges, and traffic was minimal.
Finally, in the 19th Century came the current Ghent-Terneuzen Canal. Started in 1827, it was extended several times. In the 20th Century, development was interrupted by the economic crisis of the 1930s and by two world wars. In 1960, Belgium and the Netherlands agreed to build a new sealock and modify the canal to accommodate larger vessels.
The Port of Ghent was an important town in medieval Flanders. It grew up near a castle built by the Counts of Flanders in 1180. Growing quickly, it was one of the largest towns in northern Europe by the 13th Century. The Port of Ghent produced luxury cloth famous in Europe until the 15th Century, and that cloth was a base for the city’s prosperity and political power and autonomy.
The city took England’s side in the early 14th Century at the start of the Hundred Years’ War, leading to the later imposition of burdensome taxes and several citizen uprisings. The Port of Ghent came under the rule of the Habsburgs in 1477 when Mary of Burgandy married emperor Maximilian. In 1500, the future Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, was born there.
The Port of Ghent’s economy started declining in the late 16th Century. The cloth industry disappeared when the city was not able to compete with Britain’s cloth manufacturers. When the estuary of the Scheldt River fell into Dutch hands in 1648, it lost access to the sea, bringing further decline.
The Port of Ghent began to revive in the early 19th Century with the arrival of cotton-spinning machinery and the construction of a port and the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal. This made the Port of Ghent the center of Belgium’s textile industry and the second largest port in the country.
As a tourist center, the Port of Ghent has preserved much of its past. The 14th-Century Belfry stands in the center of the city, and the town hall reflects several centuries of architectural styles. The castle of the Counts of Flanders is one of the most impressive moated castles remaining in Europe.
Port Commerce
Today, the Port of Ghent offers easy access to the sea and extensive inland connections by road, rail, and inland waterways. The Ghent-Terneuzen Canal is almost 20 miles long, from 164 to over 380 yards wide, and almost 45 feet deep. In 2006, over 19 million tons of cargo entered the Port of Ghent, and over 5 million tons left the port. Imports were dominated by ores and metal residues, foodstuffs and cattle feed, solid mineral fuels, petroleum and petroleum products, vehicles, and crude minerals and building materials. Outgoing goods were primarily metal products, vehicles, and ores and metal residues.
Cruising and Travel
For tourists, the Port of Ghent is at the cultural-historical heart of Brussells/Bruges/Antwerp, being just over 30 miles from each city. But it is not a particularly popular cruise vessel destination, as it is located inland and reached by canal. Visitors to the Port of Ghent will most likely arrive by train or automobile. Still, the Port of Ghent is one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Europe, and it is will worth traveler’s time to visit.
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