The canal connects the Canal latéral à l'Oise at Pont-l'Évêque to the Sensée Canal at Arleux.
On 23rd December 1903, the French government authorised construction of the Canal du Nord; a 93 kilometre long canal from Arleux to Pont-l’Évêque. Construction began in 1908 in partnership with coal-mining companies in the north of France, with the hope of underpricing foreign competition by reducing freight costs by up to 30 per cent.
In 1914, the First World War halted construction and destroyed large sections of the canal, with no attempts made to resume reconstruction until 1959. The busy commercial waterway is to be abandoned within a few years, taken over by the future Seine-Nord Europe Canal.