 It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing and the port took off first with the slave trade then other international trade.After the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete.The oil, chemical, and automotive industries were dynamic during the Trente Glorieuses (postwar boom) but the 1970s marked the end of the golden age of ocean liners and the beginning of the economic crisis