Harbour

Aberdeen Harbour is the principal commercial port in northern Scotland and an international port for general cargo, roll-on/roll-off and container traffic.

Originally, the defective harbour, with a shallow sand and gravel bar at its entrance, retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but under various acts since 1773 it was greatly deepened. The north pier, built partly by John Smeaton 1775-1781, and partly by Thomas Telford 1810-1815, extends nearly 3,000 ft (1000 m) into the North Sea and raised the bar. A wet dock of 29 acres (117,000 m²) and with 6000 ft (1800 m) of quay, was completed in 1848 and called Victoria Dock in honour of the queen’s visit to the city in that year.

Adjoining it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of £80,000, and 90 acres (364,000 m²) of new ground, in addition to 25 acres (101,000 m²) formerly made up, were provided on the north side of the river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and warehouses. A 1050 ft (320 m) long concrete breakwater was constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833. Thirty-two people were drowned in the harbour on 5 April 1876, in the River Dee Ferry Boat Disaster. Aberdeen Harbour was the first publicly limited company in the United Kingdom. A harbour in Hong Kong has been named Aberdeen Harbour, supposedly by ex-patriots from the Scottish city.