The Port of Mertert celebrates 50 Years
On Wednesday July 6th 2016, the Port of Mertert celebrated it's fiftiest anniversary in the presence of the hereditary Grand-Duke and Grand-Duchess. Transport Minister François Bausch and Mr Jeannot Poeker, president of the port, honoured the activities of the port at a concert held at the Philharmonie. The port is an important piece of the multimodal hub Luxembourg and it's success enables Luxembourg to create jobs and more activity as well. A commemorative Post Stamp has been issued for the occasion (click on picture for full screen).
The Cluster wishes all the best to the administration of the Port de Mertert and the companies that are working at and with the port.
Inland navigation is an important activity in Luxembourg and connects our country with the North Sea ports. The port is a major gateway for mineral oil products, steel and other bulk goods. Since 2015, the Port is expanding its activites in warhousing and containers. last year, the port exported 140,000 tones of steel and 78,000 tonnes of containers. Over 500,000 tonnes have been imported in one year, of which 300,000 tonnes are petroleum products.
How it started
The idea to build a port on the Moselle existed since the 1950's. A convention between Luxembourg, Germany and France of October 27th 1956 in relation to the construction of the navigable waterway enabled the canalisation of the Moselle, which took from 1957 to 1964. The first trip on the Moselle was held on the May 26th 1964 while the official opening of the port was held in 1966. Built for 1 million tonnes it often surpassed this capacity and it rose to 1,7 million tonnes in 2008.
Key figures of the port
- Length of 3.3 km
- Area of 65 ha
- Inner harbor 75 m wide and the two docks are each 800 m long
- 1600 m of quai wall
- waiting dock of 200 m
- turning area for boats of 120 m diameter
- 25 km of rail network
- 5 km of road network
For more info:
