Port of Port Talbot
The Port of Port Talbot is located on the
History
Aberafan had developed as a natural harbour from the 17th century at the mouth of the River Afan, acting as a point of transport for coal and sheep to South Wales, Bristol, and the West Country. From 1750 onwards, tramlines connected the harbour to local coal mines, and the establishment of copper smelting and ironworks towards the end of the 18th century quickly developed volumes of trade.
Local Member of the
In 1894, the
The founding of
The PTR&DCo was absorbed by the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922.[5] Nationalised in 1948 by the Labour government of Clement Attlee, ownership of the docks passed to the British Transport Commission, under its Docks and Inland Waterways Executive. The Transport Act 1962 abolished the commission and distributed its assets to five successor bodies, with the nationalised British Transport Docks Board inheriting the dock undertakings, other than harbours used primarily by railway steamer services, including Port Talbot. The BTDB was among the first nationalised industries to be privatised by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.
Port Talbot Tidal Harbour
However, further increases in the volume of goods handling were restricted by the docks inability to handle the new bulk carriers, with the old docks unable to accept a ship of greater than 10,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT).
In 1966, work commenced on the construction of the new Port Talbot Tidal Harbour, south-west of the existing docks system. Completed in 1970, it was the first dry-bulk cargo terminal in the UK capable of accepting ships in excess of 100,000 tonnes
Present
In 1998, after being closed to shipping since 1959, the old floating docks were re-opened to handle coastwise cargoes of ground and granulated blast-furnace slag for Civil & Marine's new cement works at Rio Tinto Wharf. Since handling steel products in March 2007,
The docks are used by Port Talbot steelworks for the export of steel products and the import of raw materials for manufacturing steel, with cargoes of coal, iron ore, sand, cement, and processed and granulated slag. They also have the capacity to handle large volumes of renewable energy fuels, such as wood chips and biomass.[2] In 2007, the port handled 9,502,000 tonnes of cargo.[8]
The northern area of the docks is designated as the Port Talbot Industrial Estate. The development of the
Nearest places
- Aberavon Beach
- Aberavon
- Taibach
- Port Talbot steelworks
References
- ^ Port Talbot Coastguard Search and Rescue Emergency Team History Archived 12 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Port of Port Talbot
- ^ Complete.pdf Archived 21 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ railways
- ^ South Wales Mineral Railway
- ^ Port Talbot Docks Handles First Steel Cargo For Nearly Four Decades
- ^ Associated British Ports
- ^ DfT Transport Statistics Report Maritime Statistics 2007
- ^ Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council - Press Release - Public consultation for a regeneration site Port Talbot 12.03.2009