Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, which are immediately south-east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century, the port was exporting 60% of the world's

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

from factories situated in the Tawe Valley. The working docks area today is owned and operated by Associated British Ports as the ''Port of Swansea'', and the northern part around the Prince of Wales Dock is undergoing re-development into a new urban area branded as the SA1 Swansea Waterfront.

Docks

Docks which have existed or still exist in the complex include:GENUKI: Swansea Timeline
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North Dock

The North Dock was created to fulfil the increasing shipping demands from the nearby metals industry, and was created by diverting the River Tawe by cutting a new direct course within a meander section near the estuary. The old course of the river became the new dock and work was completed in 1852.Retired Section Swansea Docks - A Brief History of Swansea Dock
/ref> Secluded and poorly lit, the area around North Dock was popular with prostitutes and their clients, until lighting was improved following the drowning of Selina Rushbrook in the lock in 1907. The North Dock closed in 1930 after the development of new larger docks on the east side of the River Tawe made it obsolete. The north dock has since been filled in and the Parc Tawe retail complex was built on the site in the late 1980s.

South Dock

Construction of the South Dock was begun in 1852 by a private company. It was built on a site west of the River Tawe, just south of the North Dock and was not completed until 1859. The South Dock was closed in 1971 and was redeveloped in the 1980s. The dock itself became the Swansea Marina and the land around the dock was developed as the Maritime Quarter residential area.

Prince of Wales Dock

The Swansea Harbour Trust began constructing the Prince of Wales Dock in 1879 on Fabian's Bay to the east of the River Tawe. When construction was completed, the Prince of Wales dock was opened on 18 October 1881 by Edward, Prince of Wales, and extended in 1898 to its present size of . Usage of the dock declined throughout the latter half of the 20th century. The Prince of Wales Dock is now being redeveloped as the Prince of Wales Marina with 500 berths. A new channel with sea lock and holding basin was built to link the marina directly with the River Tawe. A cable-operated

wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...

facility opened in the Prince of Wales Dock in 2010, but was short-lived. The dock is the site of the swim section of the annual Swansea Triathlon.

King's Dock

Work began on the King's Dock in 1905 to meet the growing demand of

tinplate Tinplate consists of sheet metal, sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rust, rusting. Before the advent of cheap mild steel, the backing metal (known as "") was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinp ...

exports from the local area. The King's Dock was constructed as a much larger dock than the Prince of Wales on the south side of the Prince of Wales Dock and covers some 72 acres (29 ha). Construction was complete by 1909. The King's Dock is the principal dock in the Port of Swansea which is still in use today for cargo operations.

Queen's Dock

At the same time as the King's Dock was being built, a breakwater was constructed further south which enclosed a large body of water, some 151 acres (61 ha).Hutchisong Encyclopedia article about Swansea
/ref> This body of water was opened in 1920 as the Queen's Dock after oil handling facilities were built to handle imports for the nearby BP oil refinery at Llandarcy and petrochemical plant at

Baglan Bay Baglan Bay () is a part of the Swansea Bay coastline and a district of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Baglan Bay is also the name of a local government community. Baglan Bay is served by the M4 Motorway and the A48 road which traverse ...

. Usage of the Queen's Dock reached its peak in the 1950s when oil imports and exports were around 8 million tonnes per year. Since the closure of the plants at Baglan Bay and Llandarcy, the Queen's Dock was rendered obsolete as an oil handling facility and is now used for

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

History

Due to increases in industrial output and in trade in copper, zinc, iron and tinplate combined with the developments in shipping (big steamships were replacing smaller sailing vessels) by the late 19th century, Swansea's harbour was in desperate need of expansion. The Swansea Harbour Trust (SHT) commissioned the construction of the Prince of Wales Dock, the first on the east side of the river. Opened in 1881 by the Prince and Princess of Wales (later

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

and

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...

), it was completed in 1882 and expanded in 1898. The North Quay frontage was let to the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

, the Neath and Brecon Railway and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway, which linked the Dulais Valley and Rhondda Valley coalfields directly with the docks. In addition to shunting locomotives operated by the SHT, further engines were provided by Powlesland and Mason from 1903 onwards.

Port of Swansea

The Port of Swansea is an

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

shipping port operated by Associated British Ports which comprises the King's Dock, Queen's Dock, two dry docks and a roll-on/roll-off ferry terminal in the River Tawe.

Facilities

The port has three transit sheds with of storage space, 12

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

side cranes, two drydocks, a roll-on/roll-off berth. It offers warehouses and facilities for handling dry bulks,

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

ores Ore is natural Rock (geology), rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

products and general

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

Ferry services

There is a roll-on/roll-off

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

terminal in the western part of the docks. Between 1987 and 2006, Swansea Cork Ferries operated a regular passenger and car ferry to Ringaskiddy in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ireland. The service was suspended from 2007. A website and online campaign was started in an attempt to highlight the effect that the loss of the ferry was having on Swansea and the South-West of Ireland. In April 2009, a newly formed co-operative using the Fastnet Line brand purchased MV ''Julia'' to provide a service between Swansea and County Cork. Sailings commenced on 10 March 2010 but ceased as unviable in November 2011, in part owing to increased fuel costs.

Nearest places

* Maritime Quarter * Swansea city centre * St Thomas * Port Tennant * Crymlyn Burrows * Jersey Marine beach * Swansea Beach