The Port of Brest is on the northern coast of France on two hills on either side of the Penfeld River.
Port History
Occupied by England through most of the 14th Century, rule passed from Britain to France upon the marriage of the daughter of Anne of Brittany to the King of France in 1491.
In 1631, Cardinal Richelieu decided the Port of Brest would be a naval base. Jean-Baptiste Colbert established today's Inscription Maritime, conscripting Breton fishermen into the navy and repaying them by caring for their families for life. Since 1830, the Port of Brest has been the base for the French Naval Academy.
During World War I, U.S. troops disembarked at the Port of Brest, and its importance as a naval and passenger port increased after that. The Germans occupied the Port of Brest in 1940, built concrete submarine facilities, and made Brest a base for fighting the Allies.
Almost destroyed by World War II, the Port of Brest was rebuilt, restored, and re-equipped. Interestingly, part of the port is excavated from rock and many installations are located in deep caves in local cliffs. The port was home to some of France's most notorious prisons, closed when Devil's Island and the prison colony of French Guiana were established in the 19th Century. In 1769, convicts built today's excellent promenade that separates the commercial port from the city.
Port Commerce
Three industrial zones were established in the 1960s when naval construction started declining. Today, the Port of Brest contains an important metallurgy industry supporting shipbuilding and repair. Other important industries include gas bottling, precision mechanics, and manufacturing of fertilizers, paper, chemicals, and electronic equipment.
The Port of Brest is a founding member of the Association of Ports of the Atlantic Arc. Its inter-modal terminal covers ten hectares and has 656 yards of wharf with a roll-on/roll-off linkspan and electric outlets for refrigerated trailers and containers. The terminal is adjacent to a world-class airport that offers 13 thousand square feet of cargo space.
The Port of Brest's bulk terminal has eight warehouses, and three of them are linked to the docks by conveyor belts. The bulk terminal also has eight vertical silos linked to the docks by conveyor belt. And a loading station for rail and road transfers. The bulk terminal has a storage capacity for over 150 thousand tons of goods and can move nine thousand tons a day.
The Port of Brest has a refrigerated terminal with capacity for storing up to 73 thousand cubic meters at temperatures as low as -30 degrees centigrade and with capacity for storing 36 thousand cubic meters at temperatures from 0 to four degrees centigrade. The terminal can handle up to 2 thousand tons each day.
The oil terminal at the Port of Brest has a capacity for one thousand liquid tons per day. A pipeline connects the terminal to the oil storage depot with a capacity for 155 thousand cubic meters. Together with the gas terminal, the Port of Brest can handle millions of tons of hydrocarbon imports.
