The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36 mile (58 km) river navigation linking the River Mersey with Manchester. It generally follows the original routes of the Mersey and the River Irwell, passing via Ellesmere Port, Runcorn and Widnes through Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift vessels about 60 feet (18 m). The canal can accommodate ships of the size of inter-continental cargo liners, but is not large enough for all modern vessels.
Construction began in 1887, took six years and cost about £15 million (equivalent to about £1.7 billion now). On its opening in January 1894, it was the largest river navigation canal in the world. It enabled the newly created Port of Manchester to become Britain's third busiest port, despite being about 40 miles (64 km) inland. The canal never, however, achieved the commercial success its sponsors had hoped for. Freight traffic peaked in 1958 at 18 million tons annually, and has since declined to around 7 million tons in 2011.