Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Manchester Ship Canal shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Manchester Ship Canal offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Manchester Ship Canal at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Manchester Ship Canal? Wrong! If the Manchester Ship Canal is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Manchester Ship Canal then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Manchester Ship Canal? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Manchester Ship Canal and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Manchester Ship Canal wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Manchester Ship Canal then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Manchester Ship Canal site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Manchester Ship Canal, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Manchester Ship Canal, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
end, looking towards
Old Trafford, Manchester.
The
Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) is a wide, 36 mile (58 km) long river navigation in
North West England England, opened on 21 May 1894.
The "Big Ditch" (as it is said to be known to locals) consists of the
River Irwell and
River Mersey made navigable to Manchester for seagoing ships leaving the Mersey Estuary at Eastham Locks on the south east side of the
The Wirral Peninsula. It turned Manchester from a landlocked city into a major sea port.
Early history
The canal was built as a way to reverse the economic decline that Manchester suffered during the late 19th century, by ensuring the city had direct access to the sea to export its manufactured goods, and so would not have to rely for sea access on the nearby
Port of Liverpool. It was championed by Manchester manufacturer
Daniel Adamson. He arranged a meeting at his home (The Towers, in
Didsbury) on
27 June 1882, inviting representatives of several
Lancashire towns, Manchester businessmen, local politicians and two
civil engineers, Hamilton Fulton and
Edward Leader Williams. Both engineers were invited to submit proposals, and Williams' plans were selected to form the basis of a Bill submitted to
Parliament of the United Kingdom in November 1882. However, due to intense opposition by Liverpool and
railway companies, the
Act of Parliament enabling the canal was not passed until 6 August
1885. The promoters then had two years in which to raise £5 million to cover initial construction costs, and to purchase the
Bridgewater Canal. Construction of the ship canal eventually started on 11 November
1887.
Large portions of the eventual cost of building were borne by Manchester rate-payers, via
Manchester City Corporation. Loans were arranged during the early 1890s on condition that the Corporation held 11 of the 21 seats on the Canal Company's board of directors led by
John Aird (engineer), an engineering contractor and MP. Following the death of the previous contractor (Thomas Walker), Aird's firm completed the Ship Canal.
Construction
More than 54 million cubic yards (41,000,000 m³) of material were excavated for the canal, including 12 million cubic yards (9,000,000 m³) of
sandstone rock. At its peak, the project involved some 17,000 workers. In terms of machinery, the scheme called upon 228 miles (367 km) of temporary rail track, 173 locomotives, 6,300 trucks and wagons, 124 steam-powered cranes and 192 other
steam engines (mainly used for pumping purposes). Work was twice delayed by water flooding into sections of the excavation, in November 1890 and December 1891.
Major engineering landmarks of the scheme included the
Barton Swing Aqueduct (carrying the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal) and a neighbouring
swing bridge for road traffic at
Barton, Salford, Greater Manchester.
The canal was finally completely filled with water in November 1893, and opened to its first traffic on 1 January 1894.
The construction of the canal was overseen by the chief engineer and designer Edward Leader Williams, who was knighted by
Victoria of the United Kingdom at the official opening on
21 May 1894.
North-west of Ellesmere Port, on a narrow stretch of land between the canal and the River Mersey,
Mount Manisty is a huge mound of earth created from extracted soil from the construction of the canal. Its name - and that of the adjacent Manisty Cutting - came from the contractor's agent on the Eastham section, Mr Manisty, who was well liked by the
navvy due to the entertainments he and his wife provided.
Route
From Eastham, Merseyside, the canal runs parallel to, and along the south side of, the River Mersey, past
Ellesmere Port and, having intercepted flows from the
River Weaver, through the Runcorn Gap between Runcorn and Widnes and to the south of Warrington. Between Rixton, east of the
M6 motorway's Thelwall Viaduct and
Irlam the canal borrows the route of the Mersey (with some old meanders now isolated from the Canal), and between Irlam and
Salford follows the course of the
River Irwell.
The canal terminates just past
Pomona Docks, Manchester. Today, a fixed road bridge separates Pomona Docks from Salford Quays, meaning only smaller boats can make the full trip to Pomona Docks. Most vessels have to terminate at Salford Quays, though smaller vessels can continue up the River Irwell to either join the Bridgewater Canal via Pomona Lock or, carry on to just short of Manchester Cathedral.
The MSC is the eighth-longest
ship canal in the world, being only slightly shorter than the Panama Canal in
Central America.
Upon completion, the MSC ensured that Manchester became Britain's third busiest port, despite being 40 miles (60 km) inland.
Features
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"!colspan=4|Features and coordinates|-!Location!Distance
(miles) A Manchester Ship Canal Distance Table!Distance
(km) !Geographic coordinate system
(links to map & photo sources)|-|
Eastham Locks|align=right|12.5|align=right|20.1||-|[Silver Jubilee Bridge ([M6 motorway)|align=right|22.8|align=right|36.7||-|
Warburton, Greater Manchester|align=right|28.1|align=right|45.2||-|Irlam Railway Viaduct|align=right|28.1|align=right|45.2||-|Barton High Level Bridge (M60 motorway)|align=right|30.9|align=right|49.7||-|Barton Road Swing Bridge|align=right|31.7|align=right|51.0||-|
Barton Swing Aqueduct|align=right|34.6|align=right|55.7||-|Trafford Road Swing Bridge|align=right|35.0|align=right|56.3||-|[Pomona Docks|align=right|35.5|align=right|57.1|-|Woden Street Bridge|align=right|36.0|align=right|57.9||}
MSC Railway
To service the large amount of freight being landed at the canal's docks the MSC Railway was created to carry goods from nearby industrial estates, including
Trafford Park, and connect to the various railway companies near the canal. The MSC Railway, unlike most other railway companies in the UK, was not nationalised in 1948 and became the largest private railway in the UK during the British Railways era. The MSC Railway operated a large fleet of steam locomotives, many being 0-6-0 tank engines, several of which have been preserved.Such as:
- Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 No. 4002
- Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T no. 32 "Gothenburg"
Both of which are at the East Lancashire Railway
Today
Unlike most British canals, the MSC and the Bridgewater Canal were never
Nationalisation and remain in the ownership of the Manchester Ship Canal Company, which is now a subsidiary of
Peel Holdings.
Today, due largely to the decline in manufacturing industry and the fact that many ocean-going ships are too large to fit in the MSC, the amount of freight carried on the MSC has declined, although over six million tonnes are still transported on the canal each year.
On 18 October 2007, Tesco announced that they would be using the Ship Canal for transporting New World wine between Liverpool and Manchester. They said this will save 1 million km of road haulage per year.
It is possible to join the MSC from the Shropshire Union Canal at
Ellesmere Port, from the Weaver Navigation at
Weston, and from the Bridgewater Canal at Pomona Lock in
Salford. However, the safety rules necessary on a major commercial waterway are too onerous for most leisure traffic, so only the most intrepid narrowboaters use the MSC to complete a "Shroppie/Trent and Mersey/ Weaver" ring route. A few more canal boats take advantage of the less severe restrictions "upstream" of Pomona Lock, to explore the final section of the MSC and a short length of the River Irwell.
Maximum size
While the canal was built for ocean-going ships, ship sizes have long outgrown the canal.
In 2005 the maximum length of ship accepted into the canal was 170.68 m with a beam of 21.94 m. However, beams of around 23 m are acceptable with a smaller length. Maximum Draft (hull) is 8.78 m.
The Queen Elizabeth II Dock at the entrance to the canal can accept vessels up to 208.79 m long with a 28 m beam, maximum draught 10 m.
While many ships are designed specifically to fit the
Suez canal and
Panama canals (Suezmax,
Panamax), the narrower MSC is not of major importance for shipping.
See also
Notes
External links
- Manchester Ship Canal homepage
- Virtual Tour
- The Manchester Ship Canal by W.T. Perkins
end, looking towards Old Trafford, Manchester.
The
Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) is a wide, 36 mile (58 km) long river navigation in North West England England, opened on
21 May 1894.
The "Big Ditch" (as it is said to be known to locals) consists of the
River Irwell and River Mersey made navigable to
Manchester for seagoing ships leaving the Mersey Estuary at Eastham Locks on the south east side of the
The Wirral Peninsula. It turned Manchester from a landlocked city into a major sea port.
Early history
The canal was built as a way to reverse the economic decline that Manchester suffered during the late 19th century, by ensuring the city had direct access to the sea to export its manufactured goods, and so would not have to rely for sea access on the nearby Port of Liverpool. It was championed by Manchester manufacturer
Daniel Adamson. He arranged a meeting at his home (The Towers, in
Didsbury) on 27 June 1882, inviting representatives of several Lancashire towns, Manchester businessmen, local politicians and two civil engineers, Hamilton Fulton and Edward Leader Williams. Both engineers were invited to submit proposals, and Williams' plans were selected to form the basis of a Bill submitted to Parliament of the United Kingdom in November 1882. However, due to intense opposition by Liverpool and
railway companies, the
Act of Parliament enabling the canal was not passed until
6 August 1885. The promoters then had two years in which to raise £5 million to cover initial construction costs, and to purchase the
Bridgewater Canal. Construction of the ship canal eventually started on
11 November 1887.
Large portions of the eventual cost of building were borne by Manchester rate-payers, via Manchester City Corporation. Loans were arranged during the early 1890s on condition that the Corporation held 11 of the 21 seats on the Canal Company's board of directors led by John Aird (engineer), an engineering contractor and MP. Following the death of the previous contractor (Thomas Walker), Aird's firm completed the Ship Canal.
Construction
More than 54 million cubic yards (41,000,000 m³) of material were excavated for the canal, including 12 million cubic yards (9,000,000 m³) of sandstone rock. At its peak, the project involved some 17,000 workers. In terms of machinery, the scheme called upon 228 miles (367 km) of temporary rail track, 173 locomotives, 6,300 trucks and wagons, 124 steam-powered cranes and 192 other steam engines (mainly used for pumping purposes). Work was twice delayed by water flooding into sections of the excavation, in November 1890 and December 1891.
Major engineering landmarks of the scheme included the Barton Swing Aqueduct (carrying the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal) and a neighbouring
swing bridge for road traffic at Barton, Salford, Greater Manchester.
The canal was finally completely filled with water in November 1893, and opened to its first traffic on 1 January 1894.
The construction of the canal was overseen by the chief engineer and designer Edward Leader Williams, who was knighted by
Victoria of the United Kingdom at the official opening on 21 May 1894.
North-west of
Ellesmere Port, on a narrow stretch of land between the canal and the River Mersey, Mount Manisty is a huge mound of earth created from extracted soil from the construction of the canal. Its name - and that of the adjacent Manisty Cutting - came from the contractor's agent on the Eastham section, Mr Manisty, who was well liked by the navvy due to the entertainments he and his wife provided.
Route
From Eastham, Merseyside, the canal runs parallel to, and along the south side of, the River Mersey, past Ellesmere Port and, having intercepted flows from the
River Weaver, through the Runcorn Gap between
Runcorn and Widnes and to the south of
Warrington. Between
Rixton, east of the
M6 motorway's Thelwall Viaduct and Irlam the canal borrows the route of the Mersey (with some old meanders now isolated from the Canal), and between Irlam and
Salford follows the course of the
River Irwell.
The canal terminates just past Pomona Docks, Manchester. Today, a fixed road bridge separates Pomona Docks from
Salford Quays, meaning only smaller boats can make the full trip to Pomona Docks. Most vessels have to terminate at Salford Quays, though smaller vessels can continue up the River Irwell to either join the Bridgewater Canal via Pomona Lock or, carry on to just short of Manchester Cathedral.
The MSC is the eighth-longest ship canal in the world, being only slightly shorter than the
Panama Canal in
Central America.
Upon completion, the MSC ensured that Manchester became Britain's third busiest port, despite being 40 miles (60 km) inland.
Features
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"!colspan=4|Features and coordinates|-!Location!Distance
(miles) A Manchester Ship Canal Distance Table!Distance
(km) !
Geographic coordinate system(links to map & photo sources)|-|Eastham Locks|align=right|12.5|align=right|20.1||-|[Silver Jubilee Bridge ([M6 motorway)|align=right|22.8|align=right|36.7||-|
Warburton, Greater Manchester|align=right|28.1|align=right|45.2||-|Irlam Railway Viaduct|align=right|28.1|align=right|45.2||-|Barton High Level Bridge (
M60 motorway)|align=right|30.9|align=right|49.7||-|Barton Road Swing Bridge|align=right|31.7|align=right|51.0||-|Barton Swing Aqueduct|align=right|34.6|align=right|55.7||-|Trafford Road Swing Bridge|align=right|35.0|align=right|56.3||-|[Pomona Docks|align=right|35.5|align=right|57.1|-|Woden Street Bridge|align=right|36.0|align=right|57.9||}
MSC Railway
To service the large amount of freight being landed at the canal's docks the MSC Railway was created to carry goods from nearby industrial estates, including Trafford Park, and connect to the various railway companies near the canal. The MSC Railway, unlike most other railway companies in the UK, was not nationalised in 1948 and became the largest private railway in the UK during the British Railways era. The MSC Railway operated a large fleet of steam locomotives, many being 0-6-0 tank engines, several of which have been preserved.Such as:
- Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 No. 4002
- Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T no. 32 "Gothenburg"
Both of which are at the East Lancashire Railway
Today
Unlike most British canals, the MSC and the Bridgewater Canal were never
Nationalisation and remain in the ownership of the Manchester Ship Canal Company, which is now a subsidiary of
Peel Holdings.
Today, due largely to the decline in manufacturing industry and the fact that many ocean-going ships are too large to fit in the MSC, the amount of freight carried on the MSC has declined, although over six million tonnes are still transported on the canal each year.
On 18 October 2007, Tesco announced that they would be using the Ship Canal for transporting New World wine between Liverpool and Manchester. They said this will save 1 million km of road haulage per year.
It is possible to join the MSC from the Shropshire Union Canal at Ellesmere Port, from the Weaver Navigation at
Weston, and from the Bridgewater Canal at
Pomona Lock in
Salford. However, the safety rules necessary on a major commercial waterway are too onerous for most leisure traffic, so only the most intrepid narrowboaters use the MSC to complete a "Shroppie/Trent and Mersey/ Weaver" ring route. A few more canal boats take advantage of the less severe restrictions "upstream" of Pomona Lock, to explore the final section of the MSC and a short length of the River Irwell.
Maximum size
While the canal was built for ocean-going ships, ship sizes have long outgrown the canal.
In 2005 the maximum length of ship accepted into the canal was 170.68 m with a beam of 21.94 m. However, beams of around 23 m are acceptable with a smaller length. Maximum
Draft (hull) is 8.78 m.
The Queen Elizabeth II Dock at the entrance to the canal can accept vessels up to 208.79 m long with a 28 m beam, maximum draught 10 m.
While many ships are designed specifically to fit the
Suez canal and
Panama canals (
Suezmax,
Panamax), the narrower MSC is not of major importance for shipping.
See also
Notes
External links
- Manchester Ship Canal homepage
- Virtual Tour
- The Manchester Ship Canal by W.T. Perkins
Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal - Peel Ports
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Manchester Ship Canal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Manchester Ship Canal is a wide, 36-mile (58 km) long, river navigation in North West England, opened on 21 May 1894. At the time of its completion, it was the largest ...
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