From one shore to the other: Baume & Marpent’s Egyptian bridges

D’une rive à l’autre… Les ponts égyptiens de Baume & Marpent

Isabelle Sirjacobs

p. 59-65


Texte intégral

Figure 1: Kosheshah Bridge for the Egyptian State Railways, north of Beni Suef (1909): Sinking the pilings with compressed air

Image 100000000000032000000451AD95A670DB558943.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Figure 2: Demerdash Bridge, Cairo (1894): Plan and elevation of the metal deck

Image 1000000000000320000001533D40E5648BD979C4.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

1The company Baume & Marpent (1853-1956) is known worldwide for its bridges. From China (the Yellow River bridges, 1906), to Brazil (bridge over the Uruguay River, 1910), via Europe (the Simplon railway bridges in Italy, between 1883 and 1885), the production of bridges of all types (fixed, mobile, or suspension bridges, and drawbridges), and of all tonnages, is undeniably a specialty of the Belgian firm. The company’s rise coincided with the invention of efficient steel-production methods in the 19th century, decisive for metal construction and the creation of structures. Baume & Marpent’s plants in Belgium (La Louvière) and France (Marpent) shaped laminated, molded, cast, or forged steel structures weighing several thousand tons, before exporting them to the four corners of the world.

In Egypt, Baume & Marpent worked on the creation of numerous structures that contributed to the company’s worldwide reputation. Between 1894 and 1952, the company supplied 158 bridges to that country, including its emblematic achievement, the famous Imbaba Bridge (1912-1924). In fact, seven of the large bridges over the Nile were the work of the Belgian firm. In Egypt, it also distinguished itself by supplying rolling stock (freight and passenger cars and chassis) and metallic frames for various buildings (hangars, reservoirs, pylons, trestles, etc.). The company thus stood out from other Belgian concerns, introduced to the Egyptian market essentially through rolling stock.1 In 1892, Baume & Marpent received its first Egyptian orders and built the bridges of Sahel Boula, Demerdash, Farkha, and Diffrah. These bridges formed part of a program to modernize Egypt’s structures, initiated by a governmental agency. This authority began a series of consolidation works on existing structures due to the increased weight of trains, and invested in the construction of new bridges spanning the country’s many waterways and canals. The program was a boon to European steel construction companies, especially those from Wallonia. They swarmed to Egypt, in a climate of fierce competition.

Baume & Marpent continued to receive commissions into the 1900s, expanding far and wide on Egyptian territory. In 1909, it began the Koshesha Bridge, whose piers and abutments were sunk with compressed air. This construction was very quickly recognized as a technological feat and became part of the company’s self-promotion, displayed in its production catalogues.

The Mansoura Bridge, built between 1911 and 1913, also contributed to Baume & Marpent’s reputation in Egypt. At the time, with a length of 300m, this swing bridge was the longest one the company had built.2 Nevertheless, that record was soon broken by the Imbaba Bridge, on which construction began simultaneously.

2The Imbaba Bridge (Cairo), built between 1912 and 1924, constitutes de facto a feat of engineering in the first half of the 20th century. The 490-meter span on the Nile replaced the older structure built in 1892 by the French company Daydé & Pillé. Its 1500-ton swing span (for a total of 10,000 tons) permits river navigation, and includes a two-track railway line, and two paved roads bordered by sidewalks. The challenge of the Imbaba scheme was also in digging the foundations for the steel caissons protecting pilings and abutments, again done using compressed air. Sealing the company’s global reputation, the Imbaba Bridge was proudly printed on company catalogues and postcards, and scale models were made.3

3After Imbaba, orders flowed in regularly, especially during the 1930s. All types of bridges (Strauss system swing bridges, suspension bridges, wing bridges, railway bridges, overpasses, etc.) proliferated in Egypt. To cite several: Bahr el Aama (1900), Zagazig (1930), Kafr-elBadamas (1935), Kantara on the Suez Canal (from 1917), Nag-Hammadi (1936), Samannud, Kafr el-Zayat (1937), Khandak-el-Sharki (1946), Deirout (1951), Sawagha (1951), etc. These bridges, most of which spanned the Nile or major canals, were designed, built, and erected by Baume & Marpent in association with Egyptian engineers and construction workers.4

4The famous Egyptian engineer and mathematician Farid Boulad Bey (1872-1947), director of the technical office of the Bridges and Works Service,5 collaborated on many of these projects. Responsible for checking calculations, he had assisted with the construction of both Imbaba bridges, the one by Daydé & Pillé in 1892 and then the one by Baume & Marpent in 1912. Baume & Marpent worked actively with the Egyptian technical services, advising them on new procedures in the area of civil engineering.6

Figure 3: Imbaba Bridge, Cairo (1912-1924): View from the Nile banks

Image 10000000000003200000026592D54497CC97D44D.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Figure 4: Imbaba Bridge, Cairo (1912-1924): Plan, section, and elevation of the swinging span, 1912

Image 1000000000000320000001DB928F07EB65F0657C.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Figure 5: Imbaba Bridge, Cairo (1912-1924): Elevations of the lampposts for the stairway and entrance to the footbridges, 1919

Image 100000000000032000000456D771642E825D31A5.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Figure 6: Imbaba Bridge, Cairo (1912-1924): Manufacturing the swing span in the Baume & Marpent assembly shop in Haine-Saint-Pierre, Belgium

Image 100000000000032000000291CC7DD0B5314E7265.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

5Likewise, Baume & Marpent organized collaborations with other Belgian contractors, like Léon Rolin & Cie on the construction of the Kantara Bridge. The structure was commissioned by the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, and provided the railway link between Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. With a span of 163m, this bridge included two mobile sections allowing ships to pass. However, it was destroyed shortly after its erection.

Figure 7: Kantara swing bridge on the Suez Canal (1938): Plan and elevation

Image 100000000000056C0000036C8247CCA88F760D37.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

6In January 1940, the famous French trade monthly on the applications of steel, L’Ossature métallique, reported on the Baume & Marpent railway bridge at Nag-Hammadi, describing every aspect of the construction in great detail. An impressive amount of steel was used for the project: 2,000 tons of rolled steel, 44 tons of steel beams, 50 tons of cast or forged steel and various other metals for the mechanisms, as well as 500 tons of rolled steel for the foundation caissons.7

The 500-meter Kafr el-Zayat highway bridge over the Nile was completed in 1940. It was another technical feat, because the deck under the roadway rested on three main girders connected to each other by a system of trusses ensuring equal load distribution on each girder. High strength steel was used in order to lighten the parts subject to the greatest stress.8

Figure 8: Nag-Hammadi swing bridge (1938): Assembly plan for the swing span

Image 1000000000000320000002E12FCAACA235205D43.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

7The early 1950s were marked by setbacks that impeded Baume & Marpent’s works in Egypt and everywhere else. The company had suffered numerous losses, which led it gradually to a cessation of its business in 1956, at least in central Belgium, its cradle. Political and economic upheaval in Egypt also increased the difficulties of the company, which had to stop works after completing the Ferdan Bridge, built between 1950 and 1954. Work on the structure was disrupted by a shortage of steel, incurring penalties for the constructor.9 In December 1953, the losses on this project were estimated at 17,000,000 Belgian Francs.10 Nevertheless, once it was finished, with its two mobile sections, each 110 meters long, it was considered the world’s largest swing bridge. It was destroyed in the Six-Day War in 1967.

After the temporary stoppage of Baume & Marpent’s works in Egypt in 1954, a new construction campaign was launched by the company, and again it won some contracts. However, the swing bridge at Damanhur, among others, announced the end of the Egyptian adventure for the Belgian company in terms of bridges.

In 1956, Baume & Marpent went out of business.11 Although its longevity was not exceptional, the company stands out from its competitors due to the diversification of its products and their global spread. Its numerous actions in Egypt contributed to its reputation. Today, Baume & Marpent’s Egyptian bridges still attest to the company’s know-how. In Belgium, in addition to the archives preserved by the Écomusée of Bois-du-Luc, the Morlanwelz street where Baume & Marpent had established one of its divisions, called Rue du Pont du Nil [Nile Bridge Street], is a reminder of the aura the company had acquired with its famous Imbaba Bridge.

Figure 9: Kafr el-Zayat Bridge, Rosetta Branch of the Nile (1938): Balustrade details

Image 1000000000000320000001A01F0BC4DCC69C570A.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Figure 10: One span of Kosheshah Bridge for the Egyptian State Railways, north of Beni Suef (1909), in the Baume & Marpent shop in Haine-Saint-Pierre, Belgium

Image 100000000000032000000218199B9311C21D9F85.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Figure 11: Bahr Moes Bridge, Zagazig (c. 1930): The deck laid on steel pilings

Image 1000000000000320000001AE18CD36831F021795.jpg

Source: Baume & Marpent collection, écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, La Louvière, Belgium

Notes de bas de page

1 From 1898, the Cockerill factory at Seraing supplied the first Belgian locomotives to Egypt. Ten years later, the companies from the Centre region created numerous exchanges with the Egyptian Department for Haulage and Rolling Stock. The Franco-Belgian company Ateliers de La Croyère produced the first tender locomotives with simple stringers, intended for maneuvers and for the suburban trains on the line to Mataria, 20 km from Heliopolis. Between 1890 and 1900, Egypt ordered almost 174 locomotives from the Franco-Belgian company. The Forges, Usines et Fonderies of Haine-SaintPierre and other factories from the Hainaut also participated in the Egyptian railway rush. Belgium ranked among Egypt’s top locomotive suppliers between 1852 and 1914. See Lionel Wiener, L’Égypte et ses chemins de fer, Brussels: Weissenbruch Ed., 1932, p. 260.

2 General Report of Baume & Marpent, 1910 (Baume & Marpent collection, BAUM 15, Écomusée du Bois-du-Luc).

3 Karima Haoudy, “De la Haine au Nil, ou sur les traces du géant industriel Baume & Marpent,” in Marie-Cécile Bruwier (dir.), Mémoires d’Orient. Du Hainaut à Héliopolis, [exhibition catalogue] Morlanwelz: Musée Royal de Mariemont, May 7-October 17, 2010, p. 279-288.

4 See Karima Haoudy, “Beyond the Haine: The growth of the Belgian company Baume & Marpent.”

5 Jean-Édouard Goby, “Farid Boulad Bey (1872-1947),” Bulletin de l’Institut d’Égypte, vol. 29-30, 1946-1948, p. 22-36.

6 Karima Haoudy, “Poursuite de l’itinéraire: un faisceau de dons qui convergent vers le Nil,” in Baume & Marpent. De la Haine au Nil… Itinéraire d’un géant, La Louvière: Écomusée du Bois-du-Luc, 2008, p. 174.

7 L’Ossature métallique, n° 1, Jan. 1940, p. 7.

8 Production catalogue, undated [1950] (Baume & Marpent collection, BAUM 143, Écomusée du Bois-du-Luc).

9 Copy-letters of F. Gonze, letter of 31 January 1951 (Baume & Marpent collection, BAUM 33, Écomusée du Bois-du-Luc).

10 File “Situation Baume & Marpent 1954” 1954-1955 (Baume & Marpent collection, BAUM 13, Écomusée du Bois-du-Luc).

11 In 1962, Baume & Marpent was merged into the company Bouchout et Thirion and combined to form “Baume Marpent, Thirion Réunis”(BMT). BMT currently continues its activities in the Flemish region. Nothing survives on the sites of Haine-Saint-Pierre and Morlanwelz.


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