The port of Cherbourg-Octeville
The port of Cherbourg: a growing success
At the start of the XXth century, some of the biggest cruise liners of the era arrived in the harbour of Cherbourg-Octeville. Ships of their size were not able to enter Cherbourg’s port and dock alongside the passenger terminal so tenders such as the Nomadic and Traffic were used to transport passengers and merchandise to the ships.
However, the authorities in Cherbourg-Octeville soon realised that the port’s existing means were insufficient to cope with its rising frequentation and work began to equip the port with more adequate resources to cater for future stop-overs.
The evolution of the port of Cherbourg-Octeville
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Syndicate created to defend the interests of the port of Cherbourg decided to start a new project in 1919 to create a deep-water port. The project was led by a certain Mr.Camille Théodore Quoniam and 3 years later, a public utility decree was signed by the Public Works Minister. Work began on the construction of the Flamands breakwater in 1923 and the creation of a huge 10-hectare quay to house the future passenger terminal. These works were respectively finished in 1927 and 1929.
1933 : new transatlantic terminal building
The first project for the Transatlantic Terminal Building presented by the architect René Levavasseur in 1924, was refused on the grounds that it was too audacious for the post-war era. The project was reworked and accepted in 1926 and work on the project began in 1928. The new passenger terminal was inaugurated in 1933…
Cherbourg today
