In 1958 it was decided to create a new dock to allow ore carriers to bring in the materials for the Usinor steel factory that was to be built in Dunkirk.
Indeed when the Saar Protectorate ended in 1956, France, which had benefited from its steel production, needed to increase its own steelmaking capacity. It was decided to import ore from overseas because due to its higher concentration in iron, it was much cheaper to transform than ore from Lorraine. At the same time, because European coal seams were beginning to run out, coal also needed to be imported. Consideration of these factors led the government to look at the possibility of building a plant in a port area.
The port of Dunkirk was considered a suitable site for the construction of such a plant. The digging of the new Sea Dock, entirely reclaimed from the sea and protected by the Braek Dyke to the north, began in 1958.
The digging of the new Sea Dock.
View before the digging works.
Top: The Sea Dock in 1962.
Bottom: A dredger at work
Unloading derricks.
All photos of this page by Georges Desreumaux.
Port Museum Collection.
A ship entering the Charles de Gaulle Lock.
It came into service in 1962 providing berths for ships of 55,000 tonnes which entered via the Watier lock. The dock, originally 2 km long, was extended from 1967 to 1969 to a length of 5.5 km.
When the de Gaulle lock was opened in 1979 it made the dock accessible to ships with a draught of 14 m 20, and enabled 5 ore and coal carriers of up to 130,000 tonnes to tie up together.
Many industries are installed along the Sea Dock. In addition to the steel plant that now belongs to the Mittal-Arcelor Group and employs 4,200 people in Dunkirk and Mardyck, there are now petrochemical plants and grain terminals as well as terminals specialising in the export of steel.