Saint Helier harbour is the main harbour of Jersey through its occupation of most of St Helier down the south coast. This harbour is operated by Ports of Jersey, the operative government company. Here, there are 3 marinas for private yachts on pontoons and drying harbours for commercial shipping, with facilities including a dock for lift-on/lift-off cargo ships, roll-on/roll-off ferry berths and a tanker berth.

Definition: a berth is a designated area where a vessel may be moored, typically for unloading and loading, assigned by an authority – in this example, Ports of Jersey.

The harbour gains its name from the 6th-century ascetic hermit from Belgium, Helier (Helierius).

The Old Harbour:

This area got its name as the Old Harbour, also known as the English and French harbour, with berths for over 500 motorboats and sailing yachts used for leisurely purposes, resulting in them being able to dry out on the mud below during low tide. Down here is where South pier and, the abandoned pub, La Folie Inn, are and have become an area in which marine engineers are working for South Pier Marina and St Helier Yacht club.

Back in 1790, this was only a small jetty at the side of the island where ships coming into the island could go.

Construction:

The 19th century is when the harbour was properly constructed. This only occurred after the Chamber of Commerce was denied by the States Assembly to build a new harbour, therefore they took it into their own hands to upgrade it in 1790. This consisted of a new breakwater of which its purpose was to shelter the jetty’s and harbour.

This led onto the merchants constructing the roads now known as Commercial Buildings and Le Quai des Marchands in 1814 in order to connect the harbours to the island to make them more accessible. After this, construction was concluded on the Esplanade and its sea wall:

An extensive expansion of shipping around 1837 led the States of Jersey to order the construction of two new piers named Victoria pier and Albert pier.

The Main Harbour:

This harbour is home to the deep water berths necessary for commercial vessels along Victoria Quay, where fish wholesalers of Fresh fish Company and Aquamarine fisheries is, and New North Quay.

Elizabeth Harbour:

Here is where high-speed craft and traditional ferries to Poole, Guernsey and Saint-Malo alongside foot passenger ferries to Granville, Barneville-Carteret and Sark use the implemented ferry terminal, two roll-on/roll-off berths and trailer park for shipping containers.

Involved within this are three marinas known as:

• The La Collette Yacht Basin,
• The Saint Helier Marina (built in 1980),
• The Elizabeth Marina,

Out of all of these, The La Collette Yacht Basin is the only one which provides non-tidal, 24-hour access to the sea, leading it to be home to Jersey’s commercial fishing community.

Development of the harbour: