In March 1892 the ferry berth was brought into service when it was inaugurated by the paddle steamer "Kronprinsesse Louise". It was run by DSB (the Danish State Railways), and thereby launched the history of the Helsingør-Helsingborg crossing.

New ferry berths
No significant enlargements were made to Helsingør harbour after 1885. Today, the Port of Elsinore is more or less the same size as it was then. When the North Harbour was built, most of the smaller boats disappeared from the harbour, but were soon replaced by several competing ferry companies catering for the steadily increasing traffic between Helsingør and Helsingborg. In 1955 the Liniebuss company, today known as Scandinavian Ferry Lines (SFL), put the car ferry Betula into regular service in the Helsingør-Helsingborg crossing. It was given its own berth on the north pier of the harbour with a terminal building in the former moat area.

Betula was soon joined by the ferries Pendula and Primula, and in order to keep pace with SFL's growing share of the ferry traffic an additional ferry berth was built with terminal buildings to match at the far end of the north pier.

In March 1958 yet another rival appeared for the Helsingør-Helsingborg crossing: the Norse shipowner Ragnar Moltzau whose two Sound shuttles, Henrik and Pernille, catered for passenger transport over the Sound, a bold alternative to the existing train and car ferries. These small vessels, built for carrying people, quickly became a popular means of transport. Their anchorage was at the furthest end of the south pier, where the ferrymen's hut had once stood, and where a few prefabricated buildings were now put up to provide a terminal. The company achieved such success with its shuttles that the a new terminal building was built on the south pier. It was to architect Peter L. Stephensen that the honour fell to adorn the harbour with what was a simply beautiful work of architecture: an umbelliform building following the curved lines of the pier and topped with a semi-circular copper roof.

Large ferries
In time, it became necessary to redirect heavy lorry traffic to larger ferries.

The need for yet another alteration to the harbour was in this instance prompted to a significant extent by traffic conditions on land. It had become vital for traffic going to and from the ferries to be diverted away from the town centre. Constructing the temporary Princess ferry berth in 1987 south of the South Pier was the first step towards building a harbour to the south of the town. The new ferry port opposite the railway station was brought into service in 1991, thus finally realising long-held plans for such a development.

At the same time, Sundbusserne, the Sound shuttle service, built a new terminal in the harbour across from the station building, to serve a total of four ferries.

In the summer of 1996 another shipping line began to service the Helsingør-Helsingborg crossing when the Mercandia line owned by Per Henriksen began sailings from the old No.1 ferry berth in the harbour. The run has subsequently been taken over by HH-Ferries.

  History of the Port - part 1
  History of the Port - part 1
  History of the Port - part 1
  History of the Port - part 1
  History of the Port - part 1