Partington coaling basin.

When the canal was opened a coaling facility was provided at Partington to fuel the steamships then using the upper reaches of  the canal.

The canal had been built  wider at this point to accommodate the coaling berths and fuelling hoists were provided on both sides of the canal.

In total, seven hoists were provided, all operated by hydraulic power provided by the installations at the nearby Irlam locks. Three hoists were provided on the northern bank and four on the south, the installations on both banks also providing facilities for coal export.

The north bank installations were capable of a throughput of 900 tons/hour and were linked by rail directly to the South Lancashire and Yorkshire coalfields, whilst the ones on the Partington side of the canal were linked by rail to the Midlands coalfields..

The coaling facilities are now long gone but new wharves are now available on the Irlam side  irlam_wharf.htm and three modern berths are available on the Partington side to handle chemicals and low/high flash point cargos for the nearby Petrochemical installations at Carrington and Partington, bunkering facilities are also available  here.

The Partington wharves handled in excess of 270,000 tonnes of chemicals during 1999.