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20-479: Ruhrort was founded in 1371 as a customs site and was granted town status in 1551. Due to its convenient position on the junction of two important waterways a shipping guild and a harbour had been created by 1665, mainly for trading coal from the Ruhr Valley mines. The harbour was in steady competition with the harbour of Duisburg which was located only 3 kilometers to the south. In 1701 the town fell to Prussia and

40-479: A UNESCO World Heritage Site , the oldest known waterway system in the world, is considered to be one of the world's largest and most extensive project of engineering . The European Conference of Ministers of Transport established in 1953 a classification of waterways that was later expanded to take into account the development of push-towing. Europe is a continent with a great variety of waterway characteristics, which makes this classification valuable to appreciate

60-462: A barge canal suitable for vessels of similar length and width constraints. Ship canals may be specially constructed from the start to accommodate ships, or less frequently they may be enlarged barge canals or canalized or channelized rivers . There are no specific minimum dimensions for ship canals, with the size being largely dictated by the size of ships in use nearby at the time of construction or enlargement. Ship canals may be constructed for

80-437: A neat little village with narrow streets, small parks and some fine cafes. 51°27′22″N 6°43′56″E  /  51.45611°N 6.73222°E  / 51.45611; 6.73222 Waterways A waterway is any navigable body of water . Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction

100-581: A number of reasons, including: Early canals were connected with natural rivers, either as short extensions or improvements to them. One of the first canals built was the Grand Canal of China , which was developed over a long period starting in the 5th century BCE. In the modern era, canals in the United Kingdom are typically associated with the Duke of Bridgewater , who hired the engineer James Brindley and had

120-651: A ship to move between different altitudes, and puddling , which waterproofed the canal. The standard used in the European Union for classifying the navigability of inland waterways is the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance (AGN) of 1996, adopted by The Inland Transport Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), which defines

140-554: A waterway to be navigable , it must meet several criteria: Vessels using waterways vary from small animal -drawn barges to immense ocean tankers and ocean liners , such as cruise ships . In order to increase the importance of inland waterway transport, the European Commission presented a 35-point action plan in June 2021. The main goals are to increase the amount of goods moved through Europe's rivers and canals and to speed up

160-517: Is a canal especially intended to accommodate ships used on the oceans, seas, or lakes to which it is connected. Ship canals can be distinguished from barge canals, which are intended to carry barges and other vessels specifically designed for river and/or canal navigation. Ships capable of navigating large bodies of open water typically have more draft, and are higher above the water than vessels for inland navigation. A ship canal therefore typically offers deeper water and higher bridge clearances than

180-521: Is home to the German Inland Waterways Museum (Museum der deutschen Binnenschifffahrt) which is housed in the old swimming pool building. Visitors can also board one of the tour vessels for a view behind the scenes of the harbour. A walk on the promenade facing the Rhine and the quays is quite popular among tourists as well as locals. Ruhrort nowadays lacks the grimy air of a port district and is

200-403: Is necessary between maritime shipping routes and waterways used by inland water craft. Maritime shipping routes cross oceans and seas, and some lakes, where navigability is assumed, and no engineering is required, except to provide the draft for deep-sea shipping to approach seaports ( channels ), or to provide a short cut across an isthmus; this is the function of ship canals . Dredged channels in

220-414: The 1860s the vast north and south basins ("Nordhafen" and "Südhafen") were built. These ideal transport links led to the foundation of a steel mill to the north-east of the railway station. Although many new workers were needed for the new facilities Ruhrort did not grow very much. This was due to the town being surrounded by water on 3 sides with expansion towards the north-east blocked by the railway and

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240-530: The Middle East. Public Transport in Ruhrort is provided by the "Duisburger Verkehrsgesellschaft" ("DVG") which operates one tram line (Line 901) and several bus lines that connect to other parts of the city. Duisburg-Ruhrort station , which lies north of central Ruhrort has been downgraded and is currently only served by a commuter line to Oberhausen operated by the private company "Prignitzer Eisenbahn". Ruhrort

260-500: The different classes in waterway. There is also a remarkable variety of waterway characteristics in many countries of Asia, but there has not been any equivalent international drive for uniformity. This classification is provided by the UN Economic Commission for Europe , Inland Transport Committee, Working Party on Inland Water Transport. A low resolution version of that map is shown here. Ship canal A ship canal

280-769: The first canal (the Bridgewater Canal ) built that ran over a flowing river. In the United States, the canal that brought about an age of canal building was the Erie Canal . It was a long-sought-after canal and connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River . This canal initiated a half-century-long boom of canal building and brought about many new features that allowed canals to be used in different areas previously inaccessible to canals. These features include locks, which allow

300-480: The government, who had taken over the control over the harbour by 1766, gradually expanded the docks and basins. When the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn built its railway via the nearby towns of Duisburg and Oberhausen it connected Ruhrort to their network in 1848 and constructed the so-called "Eisenbahnhafen" (railway harbour) in order to convey their trains to the areas west of the Rhine by train ferries. During

320-457: The merger of the towns it was decided that the harbour of Ruhrort should be expanded further to join a new canal from Duisburg to Herne and on to Dortmund and the North Sea . In 1908 the basins A, B and C had been completed east of the existing harbour and a large railway yard was built to the north. The harbour had reached the size it retains until today. Being an important transport link Ruhrort

340-423: The new industries. Therefore, the population remained almost constantly between 8000 and 10000 during these years. The beginning of the 20th century saw the neighbouring village of Beeck incorporated into Ruhrort, and barely two years later in 1905 the city of Duisburg was established, absorbing Ruhrort along with the towns of Meiderich, Marxloh and Hamborn, having a joint population of approximately 200,000. After

360-598: The sea are not usually described as waterways. There is an exception to this initial distinction, essentially for legal purposes, see under international waters . Where seaports are located inland, they are approached through a waterway that could be termed "inland" but in practice is generally referred to as a "maritime waterway" (examples Seine Maritime, Loire Maritime , Seeschiffahrtsstraße Elbe). The term "inland waterway" refers to navigable rivers and canals designed to be used by inland waterway craft only, implicitly of much smaller dimensions than seagoing ships. In order for

380-572: The switch to zero-emission barges by 2050. This is in accordance with the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and the European Green Deal , which set the target of boosting inland canal and short-sea shipping by 25% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050. Waterways have been an important part of human activity since prehistoric times and navigability has allowed watercraft and canals to pass through every body of water . The Grand Canal (China) ,

400-410: Was heavily bombed during World War II . In the 21st century, Ruhrort became a major destination of container trains from China . According to a 2018 report, it is either the destination, or one of the destinations, of some 80% of all direct China-Western Europe cargo trains. Today Ruhrort has 5,467 inhabitants (as of Sep. 1st, 2004), 806 of which are of foreign origin, mainly from Southern Europe and

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