The Port of Gibraltar, also known as Gibraltar Harbour, is a
seaport
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
in the
British Overseas Territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
of
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
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, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
. It was a strategically important location during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
and after 1869 served as a supply point for ships travelling to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
through the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
.
The harbour of Gibraltar was transformed in the nineteenth century as part of the British Government's policy of enabling the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
to defeat its next two largest rival navies combined. Both Gibraltar and
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
were to be made torpedo proof, and as a result the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
South Mole were extended and the
Detached Mole was constructed. Three large dry docks were constructed and plans were available by 1894. Over 2,000 men were required and had to be billeted in old ships which had not been required since convict labour was abandoned. The demand for stone and sand necessitated building the
Admiralty Tunnel
Admiralty Tunnel is a tunnel in Gibraltar.Eley, Colonel D.M. (1957). ''The Gibraltar Tunnels''. The tunnel was used for the purpose of bringing stone from the east side. During the Second World War the tunnel contained an operations centre where ...
right through the
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...
.
In 1903
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
arrived to name the new No. 3 Dock of the new ''Gibraltar Harbour'' after himself.
[ ]Queen Alexandra
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King ...
arrived in HMY ''Victoria and Albert'' in 1906 and the Prince and Princess of Wales the following year to name dock number two and then one after themselves.[
Since 2009 the docks have been known as ]Gibdock
Gibdock is a shipyard in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It formerly operated as a Royal Navy Dockyard.
Royal Navy Dockyard
HM Dockyard, Gibraltar was first developed in the 18th century. After the Capture of Gibraltar, victualling ...
.[''Gibraltar Chronicle'' – Cammell Laird Gibraltar becomes 'Gibdock'](_blank)
History
History of the Port
After Spain lost the Battle of Gibraltar in 1704, the port became part of Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. In 1713, Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...
was created to officially terminate any right Spain had for the city of Gibraltar. Once the agreement was completed Britain took full control of and possession of the port.[Stockey, G & Grocott, C (2012).Gibraltar: A Modern History. University of Wales Press.Retrieved From http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csum/detail.action?docID=1063980] The acquisition of Gibraltar was a tremendous victory for the British at the time allowing them to send ships from London to the Mediterranean cities. The port was seen as the doors that connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. It was a great innovation, that allowed Britain to expand its trade. As a result, Queen Anne made the Port of Gibraltar a Free Port in February 1706; this simple decision had a major economic impact on the community. The act allowed any international vessels to trade without the need to pay any type of compensation tax. Trade was allowed without taxes allowing ships from North Africa, Turkey, Italy and any other nationality to trade their goods freely, making Gibraltar one of the most important ports in Europe, vessels from all over the world came to trade their goods.
First beginnings
In the mid-18th century the port of Gibraltar became a naval station for the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. It served as an important tactical point, where a whole fleet of Navy vessels and 4,000 soldiers were assigned to the port, awaiting orders from their king (Constantine, S. & Blinkhorn, M 2009).[Constantine, S. & Blinkhorn, M (2009).Community and identity: the making of modern Gibraltar since 1704. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Retrieved From http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csum/reader.action?docID=10623326] Therefore, Britain having the port secured, turned their main focus to exploiting the port's economic assets. As a world trade point, the port of Gibraltar was exporting wine to different cities in the Mediterranean, making Britain millions of profit. This was their main product of exportation because the city had major wine factories. However, ships that were full with spices, cotton, and many other imports had as final destination the port of Gibraltar.The port allowed the distribution of goods to all over Europe making it the best efficient way to import and export to Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. As a result of being one of the busiest ports in the world this created jobs opportunities. This made the Port of Gibraltar the perfect place for immigrants looking for employment. As a major supply link the port was required to have large labour force to discharge fresh products such as Beef and Mutton for the Britain troops that were imported from the city Tetuan, in Morocco (Constantine, S. & Blinkhorn, M 2009). Therefore, any ship from any nation, including, remarkably, those with Britain might even be at war, were totally free to trade with Gibraltar provided that they brought in supplies. This was the reason that by the 1770s vessels from North America imported tobacco, Sugar, cotton, timber, dried cod, rum; rice and maize through the port of Gibraltar. As a result, imports were able to be distributed to all over Europe and Asia. As the centre of the international trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy)
In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...
market, the port of Gibraltar had large amount of currency transaction during this trading. However, in many cases, the port was not only a trade point but an exchange of shipments that were re-exported to other ports in the world. This new innovation is what made the port Gibraltar one of the most successful ports up to this date.
New citizens
The great success of the Port of Gibraltar caught the attention of many that were seeking escape from war and poverty. The port of Gibraltar was a worldwide trade point that was in need of labour. This created a revolution of immigrants looking to obtain a steady job where they could sustain their families. The port of Gibraltar was the indicated place for immigrants to find a job. As a result, in the following years around 1,500 families moved into Gibraltar which made a tremendously positive impact in the port. The immigrants were a great solution to the port, after most of the population left after Spain loss the territory leaving the city without any labour force that could sustain the port. An estimated 450 native citizens stayed in the port after Britain took over the port. As a result, the open positions were taken by the immigrants that came from all parts of Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Therefore, re-repopulation was required not only to keep the port running but to maintain functioning of the city. Also, many immigrants were hired as servants for wealthy Britain families that were attracted to the new possession of the land and many decided to establish themselves in Gibraltar (Levey, D.2008) pg.39–45. Once the immigrants were established the port was able to keep up with the ships that came in out of the port on a daily basis. The workforce
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the Pooling (resource management), pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single types of companies, company or ...
at the port was responsible for discharging and loading ships by hand. Therefore, the British government
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, image = HM Government logo.svg
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, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
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, date_es ...
allowed the immigrants to establish themselves as part of the population to maintain the port running (Levey, D.2008) pg.39–45.[Levey, D (2008). Language Change and Variation in Gibraltar. John Benjamin Publishing Company.Retrieved From http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csum/detail.action?docID=10217823] Therefore, in the population cases of mix relationships started to happen a mixture of cultures was created.[Constantine, S. & Blinkhorn, M (2009).Community and identity: the making of modern Gibraltar since 1704. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Retrieved From http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csum/reader.action?docID=10623326] This was a new innovation for the century, which created controversy at the time because mix relationships were not acceptable (Levey, D.2008) pg.39–45. The main races that were located at the time in Gibraltar were British, Spanish, Genoes, Minorcan, Maltese, Jewish, and Indian. The intermarriage between these races created the new type of citizens known as Gibraltarians. Since then the Gibraltarians have stay in the port of Gibraltar making sure the port stayed functioning. Therefore, Gibraltarians make up 81.2% of the population, UK British 11.4% and non-British 7.4% making a total of 29,876 people up to this date.
Local business
The Port of Gibraltar in the 19th century was one of the main world trade points that allowed business opportunities for Gibraltarians. Therefore, in the 1800s many of those that worked at the port were able to become skilled commercial traders (Brown, J.2012) pg. 22–25.[Brown, J (2012).Studies in the History and Society of the Maghrib, Volume 2: Crossing The Strait : Morocco, Gibraltar and Great Britain in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Brill Retrieved From http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csum/detail.action?docID=10562450] As commercial traders many of them distrusted goods around the city for the local population consumption. Also, these merchants were intermediaries between customers and the ships that carried the imports. Therefore, they had an important role in the port because they helped to expand the products brought to the port to third parties companies. The demand for international trade were always high because the port of Gibraltar received ships from all over the world making one of the few with the capability of bringing imports products from all over the world (Brown, J.2012) pg. 22–25.[Brown, J (2012).Studies in the History and Society of the Maghrib, Volume 2: Crossing The Strait : Morocco, Gibraltar and Great Britain in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Brill Retrieved From http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csum/detail.action?docID=10562450] Therefore, the port of Gibraltar made an average merchant into important business man allowing them to build their own wealth by selling and trading products. One of the products that was in high demand was Tabaco and alcohol which, were distributed to Europe. A great opportunity that many Gibraltarians took since trading was such a great way to make money (Brown, J.2012) pg. 22–25. At the time the economy of the port was at its peak therefore, it resulted in many entrepreneurs that were looking to make a fortune and make them self-rich. As a result of these a new type entrepreneurs created new businesses at the port from repairing ships station, and bars. The new businesses helped the economy of the port of Gibraltar by creating jobs. However, another way Gibraltarians made money was smuggling contraband. This was one of the ways the port of Gibraltar was used many of merchants made their capital this way since they didn't pay taxes. The contraband business was the second operation in the port that made the most profit to the economy. It was big issues that both Spain and Gibraltar try to stop but many smugglers couldn't resist. (Stockey, G & Grocott, and C 2012) pg. 37–42. These two sources of income were the pillar of the port of Gibraltar trading and contraband. As the time passed regulations became stricter this helped in the reduction of contraband in the Port of Gibraltar. A new century brought international companies with the assents necessary to help modernize the port of Gibraltar creating one of the most modern ports in the world.
Modern Port of Gibraltar
Today, the Port of Gibraltar continues to benefit from its strategic location which has made it a "maritime gateway" between the Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
and the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
. With its location at the crossroads of global trade, the port has become the largest bunkering
Bunkering is the supplying of fuel for use by ships (such fuel is referred to as bunker), including the logistics of loading and distributing the fuel among available shipboard tanks. A person dealing in trade of bunker (fuel) is called a bunk ...
port in the Mediterranean and a prominent maritime staging post, open to vessels of all types and sizes. Nearly 240 million gross tons
Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...
of shipping call at the port every year, with 60,000 vessels transiting the Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
. The port also benefits from its close proximity to Gibraltar International Airport
Gibraltar International Airport or North Front Airport is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (R ...
which enables crew changes and the supply of provisions and spare parts.
In 2005, the Gibraltar Port Authority
The Gibraltar Port Authority develops and manages the Port of Gibraltar.
History
On 19 February 1706, Anne, Queen of Great Britain granted Free Port status to Gibraltar. In the early 18th century, Gibraltar was principally a garrison where ...
was established with the aim of improving the safety and services at the port.
The port features a shipyard capable of emergency dry docking and major repairs, named Gibdock
Gibdock is a shipyard in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It formerly operated as a Royal Navy Dockyard.
Royal Navy Dockyard
HM Dockyard, Gibraltar was first developed in the 18th century. After the Capture of Gibraltar, victualling ...
. It is frequently used by the Royal Navy for training purposes or as a stopover for ships transiting to Africa and the Middle East. The Royal Navy also has two patrol boats permanently based at the port as part of the Gibraltar Squadron
The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. It currently includes two ''Cutlass''-class fast patrol boats with a maximum speed of ...
which is tasked with guarding Gibraltar's territorial waters. These boats regularly deploy from the port to address Spanish incursions, which are made against the backdrop of a sovereignty dispute between the UK and Spain on the Status of Gibraltar
Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is the subject of a territorial claim by Spain. It was captured in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). The Spanish Crown f ...
.
The port has become a popular tourist destination and is a frequent calling point for cruise ships. In 2006, 65 cruise ships made 202 calls at the port, bringing 210,800 passengers. The port features a cruise terminal, complete with a tourist information office, a cafeteria and convenience shops, as well as a quay which can accommodate four medium-sized or two large-sized vessels simultaneously.
In 2017, the CEO and Captain of the Gibraltar Port Authority, Commodore Bob Sanguinetti, warned Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
could cause the port severe implications. According to Sanguinetti, Brexit risked undermining the low-cost, VAT-free fuel which the port previously attained by being part of the EU but not within its VAT jurisdiction, as well as adding border restrictions which could impede the movement of parts, provisions and people, including from Algeciras
Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...
in Spain, which stores 30% of the port's bunker fuel.
References
{{reflist
Economy of Gibraltar
Water transport in Gibraltar
Ports and harbours in Europe
Transport infrastructure in Gibraltar