Information AboutPort Of Bristol |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PORT OF BRISTOL | |
| history of bristol | |
| transport in bristol | |
| ports and harbours of gloucestershire | |
| bristol | |
| ports and harbours of the bristol channel | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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The Port of Bristol comprises the commercial, and former commercial, docks situated in and near the city of Bristol in England . The '''Port of Bristol (Authority)''' was the commercial title of the Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Docks when they were operated by Bristol City Council, which ceased trade when a dock lease was granted to '''The Bristol Port Company'''.'' HISTORY ''For more information on the history of the different dock complexes, see the articles on Bristol Harbour , Avonmouth Docks and the Royal Portbury Dock respectively.'' The Port of Bristol grew up on the banks of the Rivers Avon and Frome , at their confluence upstream of the Avon Gorge which connects the city with the Bristol Channel . This part of the port is known as Bristol Harbour , and in the 1800s was enclosed by Locks , together with a diversion of the River Avon, resulting in its alternative name of the ''Floating Harbour''. The navigation of the Avon Gorge always presented a challenge, and became more and more difficult as ships got larger. In 1908 the Royal Edward Dock, the first of the Avonmouth Docks , was built to the north of the mouth of the River Avon and with direct access to the Bristol Channel. ]] In 1972 the large deepwater Royal Portbury Dock , across the river mouth from the Royal Edward Dock was constructed, again with direct access to the Bristol Channel. These developments rendered the old Floating Harbour redundant as a commercial dock, and it has since been redeveloped as the centrepiece of many leisure, resedential and retail developments in and around Bristol City Centre . A sand company was the last to use the docks commercially in 1981 . In 1991 ''The Bristol Port Company'', a private company, purchased a 150 year lease of the Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Docks from Bristol City Council. Since then over £330m has been invested in the docks and the annual tonnage throughput has increased from 4m tonnes to 12m tonnes. EXTERNAL LINKS SOURCES Web page ''http://www.bristolport.co.uk/'' and descendents, retrieved on the 29th March 2005 at 15:08 BST. |