Cardiff Docks

Coordinates: 51°27′55″N 3°09′14″W / 51.46533°N 3.15382°W / 51.46533; -3.15382
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Port of Cardiff
UK
LocationCardiff, Wales
Coordinates51°27′55″N 3°09′14″W / 51.46533°N 3.15382°W / 51.46533; -3.15382
Details
Opened1839 (1839)
Owned byAssociated British Ports
Type of harbourArtificial
Size852 acres (345 ha)
No. of berths25
Statistics
Annual cargo tonnage2.5 million tonnes[1]
Website
southwalesports.co.uk

Cardiff Docks (

South Wales coal, the Port of Cardiff remains active in the import and export of containers, steel, forest products and dry and liquid bulks.[3]

History

Coal ships tied up at Cardiff Docks

Following the development of the coal found in the

Merthyr areas of South Wales, the export of both coal and iron products required a sea connection to the Bristol Channel
if economic volumes of product were to be extracted.

In 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking the then small town of Cardiff with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting the canal to the sea. By the 1830s, Cardiff became the pre-eminent iron-exporting port, shipping almost half of British overseas iron exports; between 1840 and 1870, the volume of coal exports increased from 44,350 to 2.219 million tonnes.[2]

2nd Marquess of Bute

Bute Docks

Increasing agitation for proper dock facilities led Cardiff's foremost landowner,

George Turnbull. Two years after the October 1839 dock opening, the Taff Vale Railway
was opened, following much the same route as the canal.

With the construction of the new East Bute Dock from 1855, designed by James Walker[4] of Messrs. Walker & Burges and built by Thomas Cubitt's firm,[5] its opening in 1859 resulted in coal supplanting iron as the industrial foundation of South Wales, with exports reaching 2 million tons as early as 1862.

The Bute Docks Feeder supplied the East Bute Dock with water extracted from the River Taff at Blackweir in Maindy, and now supplies the Roath Dock. It is largely an open canal through central Cardiff, other than a culvert between the New Theatre and the Cardiff International Arena.[6]

Queen Alexandra Dock

Queen Alexandra

Frustration at the lack of development at Cardiff led to rival docks being opened at

Barry, Wales
in 1889.

These developments eventually spurred Cardiff into action, with the opening of the Roath Dock in 1887, and the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1907. By then, coal exports from the

tramp steamers. By 1913, this had risen to 10,700,000 tons, making Cardiff second only to Barry, Wales
as the largest coal exporting dock in the world.

Shipping

Cardiff's first steamship was the Llandaff of 1865, and by 1910, there were some 250 tramp steamers owned at Cardiff, by prominent firms such as

First World War, there was a boom in shipping in Cardiff, with 122 shipping companies in existence in 1920. The boom proved short-lived, however; oil was growing in importance as a maritime fuel, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles soon flooded Europe with cheap German
reparation coal.

Railways

The Taff Vale Railway was built to transport coal from the South Wales Valleys to the docks. Its headquarters were a currently derelict building in Cardiff Bay railway station. The building was turned into a railway heritage centre in 1979 by the Butetown Historic Railway Society. By 1994 the Society had started to run steam locomotive hauled passenger services up and down 550 yards of track. However, as the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation had no interest in the railway, the society changed its name to the Vale of Glamorgan Railway and moved from the site in 1997 to Barry Island railway station.

Decline

Decline of Cardiff Docks (1990)

From 1910 onwards capacity issues meant that the more modern and less tidal

Second World War (which led to the attentions of the German Luftwaffe during the Cardiff Blitz), coal exports continued to decline, finally ceasing in 1964. In 1950, imports outstripped exports for the first time in the port's history. The 1970s saw a short-term import boom, and in the 1980s the port experienced a slight rise in traffic, while much of the former port area began to be regenerated into non-port uses. The port found a niche as an important local centre for general cargo operations.[7]

Modern port facilities

Port of Cardiff today

Cardiff now has three operational docks capable of handling ships of up to 35,000 tons

quayside cranes plus a range of mobile cranes. Cardiff's specialised facilities include a distribution terminal and chill and cold storage for perishables.[11][12]

Tiger Bay

Further information: Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay was a local nickname for the general Cardiff Docks area, the evocative phrase deriving from the area's rough-and-tumble reputation. Merchant seamen arrived in Cardiff from all over the world, only staying for as long as it took to discharge and reload their ships: consequently many murders and lesser crimes went unsolved and unpunished, the perpetrators having sailed for other ports. In Victorian times, the name "Tiger Bay" was used in popular literature and slang (especially that of sailors) to denote any dock or seaside neighbourhood which shared a similar notoriety for danger.[13]

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Barrage
to the left
Further information: Cardiff Bay

The

Cardiff Barrage that impounds the Rivers Taff and the Ely to create a massive fresh-water lake across to Penarth Head
.

Only two docks, the Roath and the Queen Alexandra, remain in use, and just two shipping companies remain, albeit buoyant with their worldwide interests. Shipping movements varying from a couple of movements to 10 or 12 per tide, with trade in timber, oil, scrap and containers.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Cardiff – UK Ports – The comprehensive guide to the UK's Ports". uk-ports.org. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2008.
  3. ^ "Cardiff – Associated British Ports". Associated British Ports. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015.
  4. ^ "Grace's Guide British Industrial History". Archived from the original on 13 January 2013.
  5. ^ Holland & Hannen and Cubitts – The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, published 1920, Page 51
  6. ^ "Bute Docks Feeder, Cardiff (34240)". Coflein. RCAHMW.
  7. doi:10.1016/0964-5691(95)00030-5
  8. ^ "Cardiff Port Plan". ABP South Wales Ports. ABP. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Cardiff Docks" (PDF). ABP South Wales Ports. ABP. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Britannia Quay, Roath Basin, Cardiff". ABP South Wales Ports. ABP. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  11. ^ "Port of Cardiff". ABP South Wales Ports. ABP. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Cardiff". Cargo Services UK Ltd. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  13. ^ "Victorian London – Districts – Streets – Bluegate Fields [article by reader of www.victorianlondon.org]". www.victorianlondon.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2018.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Port of Cardiff.
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