Cardiff Harbour Authority

Last updated

Cardiff Harbour Authority
Awdurdod Harbwr Caerdydd
CardiffHarbourAuthority Logo.jpg
The official logo of Cardiff Harbour Authority
Cardiff Bay Aerial View.JPG
Aerial view of Cardiff Bay
Authority overview
Formed1 April 2000 (2000-04-01)
Preceding Authority
JurisdictionInland waters and outer harbour of Cardiff Bay
HeadquartersQueen Alexandra House, Cargo Road, Cardiff
51°27′11″N3°09′40″W / 51.453181°N 3.161161°W / 51.453181; -3.161161 Coordinates: 51°27′11″N3°09′40″W / 51.453181°N 3.161161°W / 51.453181; -3.161161
Annual budget£7.5m [1]
Key document
  • Cardiff Bay Barrage Act 1993
Website cardiffharbour.com

Cardiff Harbour Authority (CHA) is the managing authority for Cardiff Bay under the Cardiff Bay Barrage Act 1993, and was established on 1 April 2000. It took over responsibility from Cardiff Bay Development Corporation and is responsible for the inland bay, Cardiff Bay Barrage, the outer harbour and the rivers Taff and Ely. The harbour authority is part of the City of Cardiff Council and is the statutory navigation authority for Cardiff Bay.

Contents

The authority is funded by the Welsh Government. [2]

Responsibilities

CHA's responsibility includes the inland waters of Cardiff Bay (including the Mount Stuart Graving Docks), the River Taff up to Blackweir, the River Ely up to Wiggins Teape weir, [3] the outer harbour and Cardiff Bay Barrage. CHA was also given responsibility for the land areas of Roald Dahl Plass and the Channel Graving Dock.

The Authority assumed this responsibility from Cardiff Bay Development Corporation upon its dissolution on 31 March 2000. [4]

They are also responsible for a number of facilities around Cardiff Bay:

Cardiff Harbour Authority today has a number of statutory duties, including traffic control, security, navigational safety (including buoys, beacons, bridge lights and channel surveys), conservation (including dredging, maintaining river banks and the wetland wildlife reserve), encouraging both commercial and leisure uses of the bay, and protecting its environment. The CHA is responsible for the operation of the three sea locks, the five sluices that maintain the water level in the bay and the fish pass that allows migratory Salmon and Sea Trout to return to the rivers to spawn.

Offices

The authorities main offices are based in Queen Alexandra House, alongside the Cardiff Docks sea lock, however the barrage is managed from the Barrage Control Building which overlooks the 3 sea locks and outer harbour and the Harbour Master is based in the Environment Building at the north end of the barrage.

Vessels

Cardiff Harbour Authority workboat and patrol RIB. River action (2455131130).jpg
Cardiff Harbour Authority workboat and patrol RIB.

CHA operates a number of patrol, workboat, survey and general duty vessels in order to comply with its statutory duties. The authority took delivery of a new general duties boat in 2014, built by Northumberland-based shipbuilder Alnmaritec. [7]

Emergency Services

CHA works closely with a number of emergency services. South Wales Police regularly store a Ribcraft 9m RIB on-site, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service have a 5.3m rescue boat moored on the barrage [8] and there is a Memorandum of understanding between CHA, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, HM Coastguard, RNLI, SW Fire and Rescue, the Welsh Ambulance Service and Bristow Helicopters Search and Rescue in regards to search and rescue operations within the bay. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity House</span> Official authority for lighthouses in England

The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House, is the official authority for lighthouses in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Trinity House is also responsible for the provision and maintenance of other navigational aids, such as lightvessels, buoys, and maritime radio/satellite communication systems. It is also an official deep sea pilotage authority, providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast guard</span> Maritime security organization

A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with search and rescue without law enforcement authority. In most countries, a typical coast guard's functions are distinct from those of the navy and the transit police, while in certain countries has similarities to both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Avon, Bristol</span> River in the south west of England

The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word afon, meaning 'river'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of London Authority</span> Port authority in the United Kingdom

The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its continuation. It maintains and supervises navigation, and protects the river's environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Channel</span> Large inlet to the river Severn in southwest Great Britain

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. It takes its name from the English city of Bristol, and is over 30 miles (50 km) wide at its western limit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiger Bay</span> Former area name of Cardiff, Wales

Tiger Bay was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. Following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, which dams the tidal rivers, Ely and Taff, to create a body of water, it is referred to as Cardiff Bay. Tiger Bay is Wales’ oldest multi-ethnic community, with sailors and workers from over 50 countries settling there from the mid-19th century onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Bay Barrage</span> Dam in Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff Bay Barrage lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Bay</span> Area and lake in Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff Bay is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of water was converted into a 500-acre (2.0 km2) lake as part of a UK Government redevelopment project, involving the damming of the rivers by the Cardiff Bay Barrage in 1999. The barrage impounds the rivers from the Severn Estuary, providing flood defence and the creation of a permanent non-tidal high water lake with limited access to the sea, serving as a core feature of the redevelopment of the area in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Bay Development Corporation</span> Former development body in Wales

The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was set up by the United Kingdom Government on 3 April 1987 to redevelop one sixth of the area of Cardiff to create Cardiff Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swansea Barrage</span>

The Swansea barrage was completed in 1992 creating a new marina at the mouth of the River Tawe extending the leisure boat facilities already being offered by the old South Dock.

Transport in Cardiff, capital and most populous city in Wales involves road, rail, bus, water and air. It is a major city of the United Kingdom and a centre of employment, government, retail, business, culture, media, sport and higher education.

The Gloucester Harbour Trustees are the competent harbour authority (CHA) for the tidal part of the River Severn from the Gloucester weirs down to seaward of the Second Severn Crossing, on the Welsh side of the Severn Estuary from the Second Severn Crossing as far as Goldcliff, and on the River Wye up to its tidal limit (Bigsweir).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Cardiff history</span>

The timeline of Cardiff history shows the significant events in the history of Cardiff which transformed it from a small Roman fort into the modern capital city of Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Waterbus</span>

The Cardiff Waterbus is a water bus service operated along the River Taff in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Services are operated by 4 separate companies, Cardiff Cats Ltd, Cardiff Cruises Ltd, Cardiff Boats Ltd, and Aquabus Water Transport Solutions Ltd, both for the leisure market and for commuters, but charter services are also offered. Boats running hourly during the day carrying up to 100 passengers from Cardiff city centre to Penarth via Cardiff Bay, forming a part of Cardiff's integrated transport system. The service started in April 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Docks</span> Port in UK

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 7 mi (11 km). 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdeen Harbour</span> Port on the north east coast of Scotland

Aberdeen Harbour, rebranded as the Port of Aberdeen in 2022, is a sea port located in the city of Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland. The port was first established in 1136 and has been continually redeveloped over the centuries to provide a base for significant fishing and ship building industries. Since the 1970s it has provided support to the offshore oil and gas industry operating in the North Sea and it is the main commercial port in the north east of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff International White Water</span> White water sports venue in Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff International White Water is an Olympic standard white water rafting centre based at the Cardiff International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Man Coastguard</span> Military unit

The Isle of Man Coastguard also known as the Manx Coastguard is the coastguard service of the Isle of Man Government. It is responsible for the provision of coastguard services throughout the Isle of Man, an independent Crown dependency located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. Its main responsibilities are coastal patrol, pollution control, and the provision of shore-based search and rescue services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jersey Coastguard</span>

Jersey Coastguard is responsible for the safety of life at sea along with the security and protection of the maritime environment for Jersey’s territorial waters. The service is provided by the Ports of Jersey from the Maritime Operations Centre in Maritime House in the port of St Helier, Jersey.

Competent harbour authorities (CHA) in the United Kingdom are those harbour authorities that have been given statutory powers relating to the provision of pilotage in their waters. The description was created by the Pilotage Act 1987, at which point a CHA had to be one whose harbour was wholly or partly within a pilotage district where at least one act of pilotage had been performed, or where a pilotage exemption certificate had been in force, between 1984 and 1987. However, the act provided a procedure by which other harbour authorities could be assigned CHA status and some harbours have taken advantage of this process. The Marine Navigation Act 2013 amended the Pilotage Act to provide a reverse process, so that harbour authorities could be relieved of CHA status.

References

  1. "Budget cuts to Cardiff Bay events mean loss of WOW on Waterfront festival". The Guardian. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  2. "Cardiff Harbour Authority - Who are we?". Cardiff Harbour Authority. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008.
  3. "ELY PAPER MILLS;ELY PAPER WORKS, ELY, CARDIFF". R.C.A.H.M.W. website. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  4. "A Report of: Economic Scrutiny Committee - Inquiry into the Future of the Harbour Authority". cardiff.gov.uk. Council of the City and County of Cardiff. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  5. "Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre". Cardiff Harbour Authority. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016.
  6. "Cardiff Sailing Centre". Cardiff Council. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  7. "Harbour Workboats". alnmaritec.co.uk. Alnmarintec. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  8. "Launch of new South Wales rescue boat". southwales-fire.gov.uk. South Wales Fire and rescue Service. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  9. "Rescue capabilities put to the test". gov.uk. Ministry of Defence. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2015.