A little piece of history

Liege, daughter of the Meuse...

For centuries, the Meuse has been the backbone of the development of the Liege region. Although the Liege port complex in its current form is a relatively recent development, river traffic in the Cité ardente dates back thousands of years. As early as the 10th century, Liege was already trading goods with the Netherlands, France, England and Germany.

The river enabled Liege to receive the most precious products of the time, such as wines, spices and fabrics

luxurious, while exporting local products: furs, stone, slate, grain and brass parts.

Liege has always been a major shipping centre, and the Meuse has played a key role in the region's prosperity, fostering trade and cultural exchanges. Throughout the centuries, the river has made the Principality a land of encounters and exchanges.

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©oupeyeinfo.be

In 1850, Liege had no port worthy of the name, no warehouse or handling site. Only a few shores allowed goods to be docked and transhipped. Since then, numerous works have transformed the course of the Meuse, but the management of all of Liege's port land, quays and shores remained incoherent.

In 1937, the State created the Autonomous Port of Liege and entrusted it with the management of various public ports.

In 1939, the Albert Canal was inaugurated at the International Water Exhibition. Navigation in the Mosane, then limited to 600 tonnes, increased to 2,000 tonnes, enabling Liege to serve not only Antwerp and the North Sea but also Rotterdam.

Since 1964, tonnages transhipped in public ports have already exceeded five million!

In 1969, the Port Autonome de Liege saw its port operating area extended to cover the entire Liege industrial region, i.e. from Engis, upstream of Liege, to Visé. As a result, the operating area was extended from 20 to over 40 km. As a direct consequence of this expansion, traffic has reached 17.7 million tonnes.

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©PAL

Given the development of techniques and the requirements of waterway users, the Autonomous Port has developed several infrastructures over the last few decades, such as:

In 1976, a roll-on/roll-off wharf was built at the port of Seraing.

In 1982, the covered dock on Monsin Island was inaugurated.

From 1984, in collaboration with the Société Industrielle de Renory, the Port Autonome de Liege develops the Port of Renory and creates a trimodal platform including a container terminal.

Over the last two decades, numerous developments of the port areas have been carried out (management of new port areas, new pontoons and catways at the Port des Yachts, construction of a new "Capitainerie" at the Port des Yachts, etc).

©PAL

Today Europe's third-largest inland port, the Liege port complex, with annual traffic of over 16 million tonnes, has been expanding steadily for several years.

The Liege Port Authority manages 33 port areas stretching along the Meuse and the Albert Canal, occupying a total area of more than 382 hectares of land available to waterway and/or rail users.

The Liege Trilogiport multimodal platform (120 hectares) is entirely dedicated to logistics and is equipped with a container terminal.

Discover Liege Trilogiport