Cardiff Docks
Encyclopedia
Cardiff South
Cardiff South or South Cardiff can refer to the collection of communities in the south of Cardiff, Wales. Although the usage is unofficial and boundaries are only ambiguously defined, they generally share the postcodes CF10, CF11 or CF24 and the telephone code 029...
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost 11 km (6.8 mi). Once the main port for the export of South Wales coal
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
, the Port of Cardiff remains active in the import and export of containers, steel, forest products and dry and liquid bulks.
History
Cynon Valley
The Cynon Valley , is a famous former coal mining valley within the South Wales Valleys of Wales. The Cynon Valley lies between the other mining Valley of Rhondda and the iron industrial Valley of the Merthyr Valley. Its main towns are Aberdare located North of the Valley and Mountain Ash located...
and Rhondda
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
valley's and Merthyr area of South Wales, the export of both coal and iron products required a sea connection to the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
if economic volumes of product were to be created.
In 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
was completed, linking the then small town of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting the canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
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.
Bute Docks
Increasing agitation for proper dock facilities led Cardiff's foremost landowner, John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of ButeJohn Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute
John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, KT, FRS was the son of John, Lord Mount Stuart and the former Lady Elizabeth McDouall-Crichton...
, to promote the construction of the (West) Bute Dock, designed by Admiral William Henry Smyth
William Henry Smyth
William Henry Smyth was an English sailor, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist.-Private Life:...
and opened in October 1839. Just two years later, the Taff Vale Railway
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
was opened, following much the same route as the canal.
With the construction of the new East Bute Dock from 1855, built by Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt , born Buxton, Norfolk, was the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and also carried out several projects in other parts of England.-Background:...
's firm, its opening in 1859 resulted in coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
supplanting iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
as the industrial foundation of South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, with exports reaching 2 million tons as early as 1862.
Queen Alexandra Dock
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
in 1865 and Barry, Wales
Barry, Wales
Barry is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than south-southwest of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the Barry Island Pleasure Park...
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 South Wales Coalfield
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
via Cardiff totalled nearly 9 million tons per annum, much of it exported in the holds of locally-owned tramp steamer
Tramp steamer
A ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. As opposed to freight liners, tramp ships trade on the spot market with no fixed schedule or itinerary/ports-of-call...
s. By 1913, this had risen to 10,700,000 tons, making Cardiff the biggest 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 William Cory & Son, Morel, Evan Thomas RadcliffeEvan Thomas Radcliffe
One of the more prosperous and best-known of Cardiff based shipowning companies was that of Messrs. Evan Thomas, Radcliffe and Company, established in 1882 by a West Wales sea captain, Evan Thomas, and a Merthyr Tydfil businessman, Henry Radcliffe...
, Tatem and Reardon-Smith. Each day, the principals of these companies would meet to arrange cargoes of coal for their ships in the opulent Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square. This trade reached its pinnacle in 1913, when 10.7 million tons of coal were exported from the port. After the 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
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
was growing in importance as a maritime fuel, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
soon flooded Europe with cheap German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
reparation coal.
Railways
The Taff Vale RailwayTaff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
was built to transport coal from the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
to the docks. Its headquarters were a currently derelict building in Cardiff Bay railway station
Cardiff Bay railway station
Cardiff Bay railway station , formerly Cardiff Bute Road, is a station serving the Cardiff Bay and Butetown areas of Cardiff. It is the southern terminus of the Butetown Branch Line 1 mile south of ....
. 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
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
hauled passenger services up and down 500 metres of track. However, as the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was set up by the United Kingdom Government on 3 April 1987 to redevelop of one sixth of the area of Cardiff to create Cardiff Bay.-Objectives:...
had no interest in the railway, the Society changed its name to the Vale of Glamorgan Railway
Vale of Glamorgan Railway
The Barry Tourist Railway is a railway developed to attract visitors to Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales...
and moved from the site in 1997 to Barry Island railway station
Barry Island railway station
Barry Island railway station is a railway station, fifteen kilometres south-west of Cardiff Central, serving Barry Island in Wales...
.
Decline
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
which followed the General Strike
1926 United Kingdom general strike
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
in 1926, coal exports had fallen to below 5 million tonnes and dozens of locally owned ships were laid-up. Despite intense activity at the port during the Second World War and the attentions of the Nazi German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
during the Cardiff Blitz
Cardiff Blitz
The Cardiff Blitz refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II.At the time, Cardiff Docks was the biggest coal port in the world and, for a few years before World War I, it handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool....
, 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.
Modern Port Facilities
Cardiff now has three operational docks capable of handling ships of up to 35,000 tons deadweightDeadweight
Deadweight may refer to:* Deadweight loss, an economics concept* Deadweight tonnage, a ship's carrying capacity with crew and supplies* "Deadweight" , a song on Beck's 1997 album A Life Less Ordinary...
. The port has transit sheds
Goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train.A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door...
with 258500 m² (2,782,470.8 sq ft) of storage space, two overland distribution sheds totalling 13870 m² (149,295.4 sq ft), and two timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
sheds totalling 13870 m² (149,295.4 sq ft), two specialist steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
sheds, with overhead gantry cranes, totalling 15000 m² (161,458.7 sq ft). There are 9 quayside cranes
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
plus a range of mobile cranes. Cardiff's specialised facilities include a distribution terminal
and chill and cold storage for perishables.
Tiger Bay
Tiger BayTiger Bay
Tiger Bay was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. It was re-branded as Cardiff Bay following the building of the Cardiff Barrage which dams the tidal rivers Ely and Taff to create a body of water.-History:...
was a local nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
for the general Cardiff Docks area, the evocative phrase deriving from the area's rough-and-tumble reputation. Merchant seamen arrived in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
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
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
times, the name "Tiger Bay" was used in popular literature and slang (especially that of sailors) to denote any dock or seaside neighborhood which shared a similar notoriety for danger.
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was set up by the United Kingdom Government on 3 April 1987 to redevelop of one sixth of the area of Cardiff to create Cardiff Bay.-Objectives:...
was created in 1987 to counter the effects of economic depression in this run-down area. Today, the port of Cardiff and what is now known as Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...
has been totally transformed by the Cardiff Barrage that impounds the Rivers Taff and the Ely to create a massive fresh-water lake across to Penarth Head
Penarth Head
Penarth Head is a jutting headland in Penarth on the south coast of South Wales near the Welsh capital city of Cardiff.The Cardiff Bay Barrage lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, between Queen Alexandra Dock in Cardiff docks and 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.