At the end of 1963, to assist ships making use of the extensive facilities in the Gironde estuary, the port of Bordeaux installed surveillance radar covering the mouth of the Gironde. As it is still too early to assess its potentialities, this paper describes the technical arrangements and makes some general comments on the use of radar, suggested by the new installation.

Ships approaching the Gironde estuary from the open sea follow the buoyed channel from the landfall buoy BXA, 18 kilometres west of Pointe de la Coubre. After picking up the pilot they enter the western or outer entrance passage, whose seaward termination lies 8 kilometres from the coast. This provides a dredged channel, 800 metres wide and 3500 metres long, running east–west. The depth of 12 metres at low water springs enables ships to cross the annular river bar separating the deep water on the seaward side from the mud banks at the mouth of the inner channel.