Halfway along its length the Entrepotdok is drained by the Entrepotdoksluis (a lock), which connects the center of the canal to the Nieuwe Vaart.

During the French period in the Netherlands, import and export duties had to be paid for transit goods on the Amsterdam market .

When Amsterdam experienced a lot of competition in the following period, the Algemeen Rijksentrepot (General Government Warehouse) was set up here in 1827 to stimulate the transit trade.

The dock lost its function as a warehouse for undeclared goods around 1890 due to construction of the Nieuwe Entrepotdok on the Cruquiusweg, and the buildings were empty for a long time.

Much was demolished in the area, especially at Kattenburg, Wittenburg and Oostenburg, but the Entrepotdok was declared a national monument, and so was saved from demolition.

After decades of financial tug-of-war, in the early 1980s, when Jan Schaefer was an alderman, a plan for reuse was developed by the municipality of Amsterdam (land company), the housing association De Dageraad and the architectural firm Van Stigt.

Architect Joop van Stigt devised a plan to hollow out the interiors, so that in the very long, dark warehouse spaces, apartments could be situated around a communal central courtyard.

[3] After completing this huge social housing project in a prime location in the city, the warehouses on the former GEB site between the Entrepotdoksluis and the Geschutswerf road to the southeast have been converted into apartments for sale in the private sector.

Since 2001, the Aquartis apartment building has been designed by Liesbeth van der Pol on the site of the former power station on the east side of the Entrepot dock.