Port of Odense

Founded in 1803 (222 years ago) (1803), Denmark's only canal harbour[1] is the country's seventh largest commercial port in terms of turnover.

Its industrial importance has declined since the 1960s, but a transformation is underway, including new residential and small business areas.

Lindø Industrial Park is now being developed on the site with an emphasis on companies working in the off-shore sector.

Towards the end of the century, the prefect Friedrich Buchwald (1747–1814) suggested connecting it to the sea by means of a canal.

A huge undertaking at the time, it took some 200 workers eight years to complete the 5 km (3 mi) of excavation work, largely using spades and barrows.

[5] The canal contributed to the city's growing prosperity as warehouses and customs offices were built along the quayside.

The harbour quarter of Nørrebro developed with sailors' taverns and important new industries in the electrical, milling and foodstuffs sectors and last but not least in shipbuilding with A.P Møller's Odense Stålskibsværft founded in 1918.

During the German occupation of Denmark in the Second World War, shortly before work on the mine-layer Linz was completed, the ship was sabotaged by Sigurd Weber, an electrician.

The revolt soon spread to other industries and towns, resulting in the termination of the Danish government's cooperation with the Germans on 29 August 1943.