The renewed navigation on the Loire encouraged the export of local products— wines, including casks of Beaujolais that had been shipped overland, ceramics, textiles—and after 1785, coal from Saint-Étienne, which had formerly been onloaded upstream at Saint-Rambert, since river improvements at the beginning of the century.
With a capacity of 3200 seats, it was planned in 1988 by Roger Bambuck, minister of sports, and Jean Auroux, mayor of Roanne.