The Port of Duisburg is in western Germany where the Rhine and Ruhr Rivers meet, and it's connected to the North Sea by the Herne and Dortmund-Ems Canals.
Port History
Romans called it Castrum Deutonis, and Frankish kings who took over the Roman settlement in 420 AD called it Diuspargum. In 883, Normans conquered it briefly and called it Duisburg for the first time.
The Port of Duisburg became a free imperial city in 1129, but it fell under the influence of Cleves in 1290 and of Brandenburg in 1614. The city suffered during the Dutch wars for independence and the Third Years?War, but it reclaimed its strength to become a center for Protestantism from 1655 to 1818.
After 1880, the Port of Duisburg began to industrialize and absorb neighboring communities, including the harbor at Ruhrort. Joining of Duisburg and surrounding urban areas made it an important iron and steel center for Europe and one of the biggest inland ports in the world.
Little of the city's history survived World War II, even though it was the site of the Frankish court and the foundation of the Knights of the Teutonic Order. However, the 12th Century Premonstratensian Abbey Church and 14th Century Salvator Church remain. Due to its importance to German's chemical and iron and steel industries, the Port of Duisburg was a major target for Allied bombers. It is considered by some historians to be the most heavily-bombed German city of World War II. In 1941, British bombers visited 445 tons of bombs there.
Port Commerce
Today, the Port of Duisburg's economy is still based on the port. Yet it is also a major center for coal mining and manufacture of iron and steel products. Other important manufacturing sectors include foodstuffs, beer, chemicals, paint, and ships.
The Port of Duisburg, or Duisport, is the biggest inland port in the world. It is considered a seaport because sea-going river vessels go from there to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Every year, more than 70 million tons of cargo are handled there, and over 20 thousand ships visit the port. The harbor facilities occupy almost three square miles, and its 21 docks cover nearly 445 acres with 25 miles of wharf. The logistics center alone occupies over one square mile.
The Port of Duisburg includes five container terminals, two with train tracks for quick transport of cargo. It has eight covered ship loading and unloading facilities. The port offers a coal-blending and loading facility, five coal unloading terminals, and five steel service centers. It has two roll-on/roll-off facilities and 19 liquid cargo transfer facilities. The Port of Duisburg offers over 370 acres of storage area, including 148 acres of warehouse. Further, over 100 thousand tons of scrap are sorted there every month for processing at Germany's steel mills.
