a brief look at the Manchester Ship Canal with dockers from both Liverpool docks and Manchester Docks expressing their opinions as to who worked the best/least.. the MSC was an important waterway for over a 100 years allowing goods made in the north and north east of the country find an outlet to the sea and thus to the wider world. A 36 mile long waterway constructed following along the routes of the Rivers Irwell and the Mersey. It took about 6 years to construct the canal from Liverpool to Manchester and was started in 1897 and was opened in 1894. At the time it was quite a feat of engineering in nearly every aspect.

as usual, wiki does a good page on the MSC and is well worth a look if you are interested in it's history and how and why it came about etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal

Some great 50's footage is interspersed along with music from that period giving the film an overall feel of yesteryear.