Since the construction of the Charles De Gaulle lock which was opened in 1972, Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque has worked with all the port services and with the ArcelorMittal Group to increase, over time, the dimensions of Capesize ships able to enter the Eastern Port. The maximum breadth up to now has been 45 metres.
On Wednesday 27 April 2016, with the call of the ship Stella Laura, 295m long and with a breadth of 46m, the port entered a new phase in serving the ArcelorMittal Group's largest factory in Europe which has a production capacity of 7 million tonnes of steel.
Stéphane Raison, Chief Executive Officer of Dunkerque-Port, welcomed this first call which heralds the arrival of other very large ships: "This was a test with a reduced draught as part of a study on the optimisation of the sizes of ships that can use the De Gaulle lock, requested by ArcelorMittal. To the great satisfaction of all the economic stakeholders, the operation went perfectly, giving us new opportunities for berthing large ships."