Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Manchester Ship Canal opened to its first traffic on the 1st of January 1894. Queen Victoria performed the official opening ceremony on the 21st of May 1894, the last of three royal visits she made to Manchester.
The Manchester Ship Canal is 36 miles long. It runs from the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire, terminating at Salford Quays in Manchester. Several sets of locks lift vessels approximately 60 feet to reach the terminal docks.
Construction cost just over £15 million in total, far exceeding the original estimate of £5.16 million. Manchester Corporation loaned the canal company £3 million in 1891 and a further £1.5 million in 1892 to prevent bankruptcy, which caused Manchester's municipal debt to rise by 67 per cent.
The canal was built to give Manchester direct access to the sea and bypass the high charges levied by Liverpool's docks and the railway companies connecting the two cities. During the Long Depression of the 1870s-1880s it was often cheaper to import goods from Hull than from Liverpool. The canal's proponents argued it would lower transport costs and create jobs.
The Barton Swing Aqueduct carries the Bridgewater Canal over the Manchester Ship Canal and is the first and only swing aqueduct in the world. It is a Grade II* listed structure, alongside the neighbouring Barton Road Swing Bridge.
The Manchester Ship Canal is owned and operated by Peel Ports, which acquired the Ship Canal Company in 1993. Peel Ports also owns the Port of Liverpool. In 2011 the company announced a £50 billion Atlantic Gateway plan to increase container traffic along the canal from 8,000 containers in 2010 to 100,000 by 2030.