Port of Leixões, Portugal

Oporto Harbor that Stands Behind the Port of Leixões. Der Norddeutscher Lloyd, 1892. GGA Image ID # 2164fedcd0

Leixões is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. At Leixoes Harbor, which was artificially created, suggestions have been made for converting it into a first-class commercial port and connecting It by rail with Oporto and then with the Spanish railway system.

Even in its present unsatisfactory condition, the harbor has been an essential asset to the trade of northern Portugal, with steamers being able to call there, which, on account of their sits and draft, prevented them from entering the Douro.

LEIXOES HARBOUR, situated about 2 1/2 miles northward of the bar of the Douro, is about 250 acres in area, formed by two parallel breakwaters 5 and 9 cables in length, and 6 cables apart, extending in a south-west direction from the shore. The outer portions curve towards each other, leaving an entrance open to southward 250 yards in width, with a depth of 8 fathoms.

In the centre of the harbour there is about 5 fathoms, decreasing towards the shore to 3 fathoms at about one cable off. The bottom is composed of sand and rock. The outer part of the northern arm is built on the Leixôes rock and foul ground extends 1 1/2 cables seaward of it. The north-east corner of the harbour is enclosed by two moles each about one cable in length with an entrance 80 yards wide and dept lis of 6 to 10 feet.

Map of the Port of Leixões in Front of Oporto. Der Norddeutscher Lloyd, 1892. GGA Image ID # 2164d79c7e

Bibliography

"LEIXOES HARBOUR," in Sailing Directions for the West Coasts of France, Spain, and Portugal, Fifth Edition, London: Darling & Son, Ltd., 1891.

"Portugal's Maritime Aspirations" in The Nautical Gazette, 11 January 1919.