During the English colonisation, the port has been greatly used for the transportation of sugar from the many southern sugar factories to the Capital (Port Louis) making it the most busy seaport in the south. Its importance started to decrease with the introduction of railways in the island from 1877. With the development of other means of transport, the port became less and less used. However, by that time, the locality had already grown into a village. The village kept the name of Souillac.