The Guadalquivir River through Sevilla has always caused problems of silting and flooding resulting in loss of traffic to Cadiz. A solution was needed.
A brief description of the project would be the following: "A channel would be opened which, starting opposite the Cartuja, upriver from Seville, would join up with the San Juan branch-off at the town of the same name. This channel, the axis of the whole lot and, actually, another cutoff, would divert the river as it flowed through Seville shifting it towards the Vega de Triana where the new river channel opened up.
To separate the Port from the river and free it of its influence, three enclosure embankments would be established: one in Chapina, another at the southern end of the Alfonso XIII canal and a third on a part of the former river bed at Punta de Tablada.
In this way the whole port area would become a closed harbour and to enter it a lock was constructed sideways to the canal enclosure.
The new canal can be seen slightly to NW and the old riverbed and port still exist to the north of the locks.