Queen Alexandra Dock
| Port of Cardiff | |
|---|---|
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| Location | |
| Country | UK |
| Location | Cardiff, Wales |
| Coordinates | 51°27′55″N 3°09′14″W / 51.46533°N 3.15382°WCoordinates: 51°27′55″N 3°09′14″W / 51.46533°N 3.15382°W |
| Details | |
| Opened | 1839 |
| Owned by | Associated British Ports |
| Type of harbor | Artificial |
| Size | 852 acres (345 ha) |
| Available berths | 25 |
| Statistics | |
| Annual cargo tonnage | 2.5 million tonnes |
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Website southwalesports |
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Cardiff Docks is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. 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, the Port of Cardiff remains active in the import and export of containers, steel, forest products and dry and liquid bulks.
Following the development of the coal found in the Cynon Valley, Rhondda Valley, and 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.
Increasing agitation for proper dock facilities led Cardiff's foremost landowner, John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, to promote the construction of the (West) Bute Dock. The dock design was by Admiral William Henry Smyth and the resident engineer was 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 of Messrs. Walker & Burges and built by Thomas Cubitt's firm, 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.
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