Manchester Ship Canal (Main Line)

The maximum dimensions for a boat to be able to travel on the waterway are 72 feet long and 14 feet wide. The maximum headroom is not known. The maximum draught is not known.
It has junctions with the Shropshire Union Canal (Wirral Line - Main Line) at Ellesmere Port Junction; with the Bridgewater Canal (Pomona Lock Branch) at Pomona Dock No 4; with the Manchester Ship Canal (Walton Lock Branch) at Walton Junction; with the Bridgewater Canal (Runcorn Locks Branch) at Bridgewater Canal Junction (closed); with the River Weaver (Main Line) at Delamere Dock Entrance and with the River Weaver (Weston Marsh Lock Line) and the River Weaver (Old River) at Weaver Mouth.
This waterway is excluded by default from route planning with the following explanation: "very large commercial waterway, paperwork necessary"
The navigational authority for this waterway is Peel PortsRelevant publications — Waterway Maps:
Mersey - Ship Canal Junction Junction of the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal |
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Eastham Locks Entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal |
1 mile and 2¾ furlongs | 0 locks | |
Bankfield Wharf | 1 mile and 4½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Hooton Wharf | 2 miles | 1 lock | |
Bowaters UK Paper Mills | 2 miles and 2½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Pool Hall Wharf | 2 miles and 6¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Ellesmere Port Junction Junction of Shropshire Union and Manchester Ship Canals |
2 miles and 7¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Ellesmere Port Grain Warehouse | 3 miles and 2½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Stuart Wharf | 3 miles and 4¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Stanlow Wharf | 3 miles and 6 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Associated Ethyl Wharf | 3 miles and 6½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
ICI Wharf (Dyestuffs) | 3 miles and 7 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Esso Barge Wharf | 4 miles | 1 lock | |
Stanlow Oil Docks Turning point and Stanlow Lay-by |
4 miles and 1 furlong | 1 lock | |
Ince Coaster Berth | 4 miles and 6½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Ince Oil Berth | 5 miles | 1 lock | |
Ince Tying-up Berth | 5 miles and 1 furlong | 1 lock | |
Ince Wharf | 6 miles and 4¾ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Holpool Gutter | 7 miles and 4 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Frodsham Pumping Stage | 8 miles and 4 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Weaver Mouth Junction of the River Weaver and Manchester Ship Canal |
9 miles and 7¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Weaver Sluices | 10 miles and 1½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Weston Mersey Junction with River Mersey |
10 miles and 7¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Weston Point Docks | 11 miles | 1 lock | |
Delamere Dock Entrance Entrance to Weaver Navigation |
11 miles and ¾ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Weston Point Salt Works (ICI) | 11 miles and 1 furlong | 1 lock | |
Runcorn Lay-by | 11 miles and 2 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Runcorn Docks | 11 miles and 4¾ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Bridgewater Canal Junction (closed) | 11 miles and 6½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Runcorn Railway Bridge | 12 miles and 1¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Widnes Bridge | 12 miles and 1½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Old Quay Lock Entrance to Runcorn Old Quay |
12 miles and 4¾ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Old Quay Swing Bridge | 12 miles and 7½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
ICI Wharf (General Chemicals) | 13 miles and 1¾ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Astmoor Wharf ICI (Chemicals and Met.) |
13 miles and 7½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Stone Delph | 15 miles and ¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Randles Sluices | 15 miles and 1½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Moore Lane Lay-by | 16 miles and 2 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Moore Lane Swing Bridge | 17 miles and ¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Acton Grange Wharf | 17 miles and 4¼ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Acton Grange Railway Viaduct | 17 miles and 6½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Chester Road Swing Bridge | 18 miles and 6½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Walton Junction Junction of Manchester Ship Canal Main Line and Walton Lock Branch |
19 miles | 1 lock | |
Northwich Road Swing Bridge | 19 miles and 3½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Latchford High Level Bridge | 20 miles and 1 furlong | 1 lock | |
Knutsford Road Swing Bridge | 20 miles and 3½ furlongs | 1 lock | |
Latchford Viaduct | 20 miles and 6 furlongs | 1 lock | |
Latchford Locks | 21 miles | 1 lock | |
Thelwall Pumping Station | 21 miles and 5 furlongs | 2 locks | |
Thelwall Ferry | 21 miles and 6½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Stratham Pumping Station No 3 Disused |
22 miles and 3¾ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Thelwall Viaduct Twin motorway bridges |
22 miles and 6½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Rixton Junction Junction with the River Mersey |
23 miles and 7½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Warburton High Level Bridge | 25 miles and 1¼ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Millbank Wharf | 25 miles and 7¾ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Cadishead Ferry | 26 miles and 3½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Cadishead Viaduct | 26 miles and 7½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Partingham Coaling Basin | 27 miles and 1½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Irlam Wharf | 27 miles and 5¾ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Mersey Weir | 28 miles and ¼ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Irlam Viaduct | 28 miles and 1 furlong | 2 locks | |
Irlam Locks | 28 miles and 3½ furlongs | 2 locks | |
Hulmes Bridge Ferry | 28 miles and 5 furlongs | 3 locks | |
Barton Locks Jettys | 30 miles and 1¾ furlongs | 3 locks | |
Barton Locks | 30 miles and 3¼ furlongs | 3 locks | |
M60 Bridge | 31 miles | 4 locks | |
Barton Low Level Bridge | 31 miles and ½ furlongs | 4 locks | |
Barton Swing Bridge | 31 miles and 6 furlongs | 4 locks | |
Barton Swing Aqueduct Overhead | 31 miles and 6½ furlongs | 4 locks | |
Irwell Park Wharf | 32 miles and 2¼ furlongs | 4 locks | |
Cerestar Wharf | 32 miles and 5¾ furlongs | 4 locks | |
Centenary Bridge (Manchester Ship Canal) Opened in 1994 |
33 miles | 4 locks | |
Sewage Works | 33 miles and 3½ furlongs | 4 locks | |
Weaste Wharf Blue Circle wharf |
33 miles and 4 furlongs | 4 locks | |
Mode Wheel Locks | 33 miles and 7½ furlongs | 4 locks | |
Media City Footbridge | 34 miles and 1¾ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Dock No 9 Entrance | 34 miles and 2¼ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Imperial War Museum North | 34 miles and 2½ furlongs | 5 locks | |
The Lowry | 34 miles and 2¾ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Salford Quays Footbridge Direct access to the Imperial War Museum |
34 miles and 3½ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Dock No 8 Entrance | 34 miles and 4¼ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Turning Basin Docks Nos 6, 7 and 8 |
34 miles and 5 furlongs | 5 locks | |
Trafford Road Swing Bridge | 34 miles and 7¾ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Trafford Road Bridge | 35 miles | 5 locks | |
Metrolink Bridge | 35 miles and 1½ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Pomona Dock No 4 Junction with Branch to Bridgewater Canal |
35 miles and 3¼ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Pomona Dock No 1 | 35 miles and 3¾ furlongs | 5 locks | |
Woden Street Footbridge Junction of Manchester Ship Canal and River Irwell Upper Reach |
36 miles | 5 locks |
- The Trafford Road Swing Bridge — associated with Trafford Road Swing Bridge
- Manchester History
Wikipedia has a page about Manchester Ship Canal
The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36-mile-long (58 km) inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift vessels about 60 feet (18 m) to the canal's terminus in Manchester. Landmarks along its route include the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the world's only swing aqueduct, and Trafford Park, the world's first planned industrial estate and still the largest in Europe.
The rivers Mersey and Irwell were first made navigable in the early 18th century. Goods were also transported on the Runcorn extension of the Bridgewater Canal (from 1776) and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (from 1830), but by the late 19th century the Mersey and Irwell Navigation had fallen into disrepair and was often unusable. In addition, Manchester's business community viewed the charges imposed by Liverpool's docks and the railway companies as excessive. A ship canal was therefore proposed to give ocean-going vessels direct access to Manchester. The region was suffering from the Long Depression; the canal's proponents argued that the scheme would boost competition and create jobs. They built public support for the scheme, which was first presented to Parliament as a bill in 1882. Faced with stiff opposition from Liverpool, the canal's supporters were unable to gain the necessary Act of Parliament to allow the scheme to go ahead until 1885.
Construction began in 1887; it took six years and cost £15 million (equivalent to about £1.65 billion in 2011). When the ship canal opened in January 1894 it was the largest river navigation canal in the world, and enabled the new Port of Manchester to become Britain's third-busiest port despite being about 40 miles (64 km) inland. Changes to shipping methods and the growth of containerisation during the 1970s and '80s meant that many ships were now too big to use the canal and traffic declined, resulting in the closure of the terminal docks at Salford. Although able to accommodate vessels from coastal ships to intercontinental cargo liners, the canal is not large enough for most modern vessels. By 2011 traffic had decreased from its peak in 1958 of 18 million long tons (20 million short tons) of freight each year to about 7 million long tons (7.8 million short tons). The canal is now privately owned by Peel Holdings, whose plans include redevelopment, expansion, and an increase in shipping from 8,000 containers a year to 100,000 by 2030 as part of their Atlantic Gateway project.