Algiers (El-Jazair) is the capital and main seaport of Algeria in northern Africa. Built on the slopes of the Sahel Hills, it stretches for ten miles along the Bay of Algiers.
Port History
It was founded as a colony by the Phoenicians and known to the Romans and Carthaginians as Icosium. The modern Rue de la Marine follows what was once a Roman street. Destroyed by the Vandals in the 5th Century AD, Buluggin ibn Ziri, founder of the Berber Zirid-Senhaja dynasty, restored it and founded the present city in 944 AD as a Mediterranean commercial center.
In the early 16th Century, Spain expelled Moors who sought asylum in Algiers and began pirating Spanish ships. In response, the Spanish fortified the Bay of Algiers’ islet of Penon. The emir of Algiers sought from Penon from two Turkish corsairs. In 1529, one of those corsair brothers, Barbarossa, expelled Spain from the island. He also brought Algiers under the rule of the Ottomans.
This action transformed Algiers into a major base for the following 300 years from which the famous Barbary pirates operated and upon which the local economy depended. European countries tried many times to put down the pirates. But Algiers-based piracy continued until 1830 when the French conquered the city, making Algiers headquarters for their colonial empire in Africa. Algiers was the Allies’ headquarters during World War II and became, for a brief time, the capital of France.
After the war, Algiers began to revolt against France’s control, costing over 1.5 million Algerian lives. The Port of Algiers was a central point for the struggle. Algeria won independence in 1962, and the country embarked on an effort to transform the former colony into a modern socialist state.
The older Turkish-Muslim section on the upper slopes of the Port of Algiers has maintained much of its architectural integrity, with high blank-walled houses and narrow streets that are dominated by the fortress of the Kasbah, which UNESCO designated a World Heritage site in 1992.
Port Commerce
In 2007, the Port of Algiers was striving to regain its position as an important African and Mediterranean center. The city’s new openness to the outside world has brought foreign investment, and many infrastructure projects have been undertaken. But growth has outstripped efforts to provide a modern environment, and the Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality of life survey ranked Algiers at the bottom of 132 capitals. Further, 2007 brought contradictory events to the Port of Algiers. It was named the “capital of Arab culture,” but it was also the site of several bombing attacks and much violence.
The State’s National Corporation for Maritime Transportation and the Algerian Navigation Company are responsible for coordinating the Port of Algiers, but semi-autonomous port authorities operate the port. The Port of Algiers offers total surface storage of almost 70 acres, contains 12 warehouses of 12 acres, and a container terminal of 17 hectares. It has a grain silo with a capacity for 30 thousand tons and dry docks for the repair of ships. In 2007, the Port of Algiers handled over 11 million tons of cargo.
Cruising and Travel
Civil and political strive in the Port of Algiers have discouraged tourism and cruise travel to the city over the past decade; however, there are a few cruise ships that visit the port.
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