Port of Barrow

Last updated

Port of Barrow
Barrow docks.jpg
A map of the port of Barrow
Port of Barrow
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
Location
Country United Kingdom
Location Cumbria
Coordinates 54°06′29″N3°13′37″W / 54.108°N 3.227°W / 54.108; -3.227
UN/LOCODE GBBIF [1]
Details
Operated by Associated British Ports Holdings
Owned by ABP
Type of harbour Tidal locked harbour
No. of berths 12 [2]
Draft depth 7.3 m. [2]
Statistics
Website
www.abports.co.uk/locations/barrow/
Princess Selandia, an entertainment ship previously berthed in Buccleuch Dock Princess Selandia, Barrow Quay.jpg
Princess Selandia, an entertainment ship previously berthed in Buccleuch Dock

The Port of Barrow refers to the enclosed dock system within the town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. Morecambe Bay is to the east of the port and the Irish Sea surrounds it to the south and west. The port is currently owned and operated by Associated British Ports Holdings, but some land is shared with BAE Systems Submarine Solutions. Currently consisting of four large docks, the Port of Barrow is one of North West England's most important ports. The docks are as follows: Buccleuch Dock, Cavendish Dock, Devonshire Dock and Ramsden Dock. The port of Barrow is the only deep water port between the Mersey and the Clyde. [3]

Contents

Barrow shipyard is one of the largest in the United Kingdom (it has built well over 800 vessels in its history), rivalled only by those in Belfast, Birkenhead and Govan. It is also home to the country's only submarine production facility. The port is heavily involved with the transportation of natural gases and other forms of energy from local sites such as Sellafield, Barrow Offshore Windfarm, Ormonde Wind Farm, Rampside Gas Terminal and Roosecote Power Station. Barrow is also becoming increasingly popular as a port of call for cruise liners visiting the town and the Lake District. [4] James Fisher & Sons are the main company to operate out of the port.

History

The Port of Barrow and the town's shipyard about 1890 Barrow Works 1890.jpg
The Port of Barrow and the town's shipyard about 1890

Barrow has a long and complex history of shipbuilding and maritime trade. In the late 19th century, the town had the largest steelworks on Earth, and the Port of Barrow was the main route used to transport the steel produced in the town. [5] Historically, the Port of Barrow and BAE cover a large area, so that Barrow is one of the country's largest shipbuilding centres. Hundreds of warships, aircraft carriers, cruise liners, ferries and submarines have been constructed in Barrow, which remains the only operational submarine production facility in the UK. [6] A 1936 LMS advert said that their 300 acres (120 ha) of water and 400 acres (160 ha) of quays handled 375,000 tons of cargo per year. [7] The port's busiest year was 1956, when 1,155,076 tonnes of iron ore alone were exported. [8]

In 1839 Henry Schneider arrived at Barrow-in-Furness as a young speculator and dealer in iron, and in 1850 he discovered large deposits of haematite. He and other investors founded the Furness Railway, the first section of which opened in 1846 to transport the ore from the slate quarries at Kirkby-in-Furness and haematite mines at Lindal-in-Furness to a deep water harbour near Roa Island. [9] The docks built between 1867 and 1881 in the more sheltered channel between the mainland and Barrow Island replaced the port at Roa Island. The increasing quantities of iron ore mined in Furness were then brought to Barrow to be transported by sea. The sheltered strait between Barrow and Walney Island was an ideal location for the shipyard. The first ship to be built, Jane Roper, was launched in 1852; the first steamship, a 3,000-ton liner named Duke of Devonshire, in 1873. Shipbuilding activity increased, and on 18 February 1871 the Barrow Shipbuilding Company was incorporated. Barrow's relative isolation from the United Kingdom's industrial heartlands meant that the newly-formed company included several capabilities that would usually be subcontracted to other establishments. In particular, a large engineering works was constructed, including a foundry and pattern shop, a forge, and an engine shop. In addition, the shipyard had a joiners' shop, a boat-building shed and a sailmaking and rigging loft. [10]

The Barrow Shipbuilding Company was taken over by the Sheffield steel firm of Vickers in 1897, by which time the shipyard had surpassed the railway and steelworks as the largest employer and landowner in Barrow. The company constructed Vickerstown, modelled on George Cadbury's Bournville, on the adjacent Walney Island in the early 20th century to house its employees. [11] It also commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to design Abbey House as a guest house and residence for its managing director, Commander Craven. [12] By the 1890s the shipyard was heavily engaged in the construction of warships for the Royal Navy and also for export. The Royal Navy's first submarine, Holland 1, was built in 1901, [13] and by 1914 the UK had the most advanced submarine fleet in the world, with 94% of it constructed by Vickers. Well-known ships built in Barrow include Mikasa, the Japanese flagship during the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, the liner Oriana and the aircraft carriers HMS Invincible and HMAS Melbourne. During World War II, Barrow was a target for the German Air Force looking to disable the town's shipbuilding capabilities (see Barrow Blitz). [14] Barrow's industry continued to supply the war effort. Winston Churchill once visited the town to launch the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable. [15] After a rapid decline in the town's steel industry, shipbuilding quickly became Barrow's largest and most important industry. From the 1960s onwards it concentrated its efforts in submarine manufacture, and the UK's first nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Dreadnought was constructed in 1960. HMS Resolution, the Swiftsure, Trafalgar and Vanguard-class submarines all followed.

The end of the Cold War in 1991 marked a reduction in the demand for military ships and submarines, and the town continued its decline. The shipyard's dependency on military contracts at the expense of civilian and commercial engineering and shipbuilding meant it was particularly hard hit as government defence spending was reduced dramatically. [16] The workforce shrank from 14,500 in 1990 to 5,800 in February 1995. [17] The rejection by the VSEL management of detailed plans for Barrow's industrial renewal in the mid-to-late 1980s remains controversial. [18] This has led to interest in the possibilities of converting military-industrial production in declining shipbuilding areas to the offshore renewable energy sector. [19]

The port today

Many of the tenements built in the late 1800s on Barrow Island for dock workers are listed buildings Steamer Street, Barrow.jpg
Many of the tenements built in the late 1800s on Barrow Island for dock workers are listed buildings

Exports and imports

The port of Barrow has seen a big decrease in trade since steel production in the town halted; but many local businesses rely heavily on the port to import and export goods. [4] Some 41,000 tonnes of wood pulp per year are now imported here from Flushing, Netherlands, and transported to the larger Kimberly-Clark plant in Ormsgill. The port of Barrow also exports locally quarried limestone to parts of Scandinavia to be used in the paper industry and in the production of industrial gases. There is also a well-established rail link which was originally built as part of the Furness Line. [4]

The port plays a major role in the region's energy production. [20] British Gas Hydrocarbon Resources Limited operates a condensate-storage site in Ramsden Dock, through which the liquid by-product of gas production at the nearby Rampside Gas Terminal is exported. [4] The PNTL vessel Pacific Heron is based at the port of Barrow, and is used to transport nuclear material between nearby Sellafield and Japan. [21] The port also played an important role in the construction of the Barrow Offshore Wind Farm, which was completed in 2006. Resources and materials were stored at the dock before being shipped to the wind farm site on Morecambe Bay. The turbines and energy produced are still strongly associated[ clarification needed ] with the port. [20] There are 20 hectares (49 acres) of storage space within the port, owned by Associated British Ports. [22] They also own a multi-purpose vessel, Furness Abbey, which is available for hire. [22] There are many cranes in Barrow's dockland. The majority are owned by BAE, and ABP only operates one 120-tonne quayside crane. [22] The maximum dimensions of vessels that can dock in Barrow are 200 m (656 ft) length by 35 m (115 ft) beam and 10 m (33 ft) draught. [22]

Significant exports
Material/ ProductAnnual amount handledNotes
Nuclear material, oil, gas and renewable energy [20]
Limestone and granite [20]
Significant imports
Material/ ProductAnnual amount handledNotes
Granite, sand and aggregates 100,000+ tonnes [23]
Wood pulp 41,000 tonnes [23]

Cruise ships

Tahitian Princess visited Barrow in 2009 TahitianPrincess.jpg
Tahitian Princess visited Barrow in 2009

Barrow itself has relatively few nearby tourist spots (Furness Abbey, South Lakes Safari Zoo and the Dock Museum), but it is quite close to the Lake District, and has been nicknamed "The Gateway to the Lakes". Barrow is the principal port serving Cumbria and the Lake District, and has been a port of call for several cruise ships in recent years. [4] A new purpose-built cruise ship terminal alongside Walney Channel was proposed as part of the multi-million pound waterfront development (see the 'Future' heading). This was subsequently removed from the plans.

Cruise ships that have called at the port of Barrow since 2000
NameOperatorDate visitedNotes
Ocean MajestyPage & Moy [24]
Silver Wind Silversea Cruises [24]
Black Prince Fred. Olsen & Co. June 2003 [25]
Arion Arcalia ShippingAugust 2003 [25]
Minerva II Swan Hellenic September 2004 [26]
Deutschland Peter Deilmann Cruises May 2005 [24]
DeutschlandPeter Deilmann CruisesJune 2006 [24]
Tahitian Princess Princess Cruises May 2009 [27]
Adonia P&O Cruises June 2014 [28]
Saga Pearl II Saga Cruises July 2016

Future

See also

Companies associated with the port

Related Research Articles

<i>Vanguard</i>-class submarine Royal Navy ballistic missile submarine class

The Vanguard class is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) in service with the Royal Navy. The class was introduced in 1994 as part of the Trident nuclear programme, and comprises four vessels: Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance, built between 1986 and 1999 at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, now owned by BAE Systems. All four boats are based at HM Naval Base Clyde , 40 km (25 mi) west of Glasgow, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipyard</span> Place where ships are built and repaired

A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved with original construction, dockyards are sometimes more linked with maintenance and basing activities. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrow-in-Furness</span> Town in Cumbria, England

Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. The borough was merged into the new Westmorland and Furness district in 2023. At the tip of the Furness peninsula, close to the Lake District, it is bordered by Morecambe Bay, the Duddon Estuary and the Irish Sea. In 2021, Barrow's population was 55,489, making it the second largest urban area in Cumbria after Carlisle, and the largest in the Westmorland and Furness unitary authority.

Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, when that side of the business was separated and became part of the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering</span> British shipbuilding company

Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construction Works of Vickers Armstrongs and has a heritage of building large naval warships and armaments. Through a complicated history the company's shipbuilding division is now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions and the armaments division is now part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swan Hunter</span> Shipbuilding company based in England

Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England.

British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walney Island</span> Island in the United Kingdom

Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned by the Jubilee Bridge. Walney is the largest island of the Furness Islands group, both in population and size, as well as the largest English island in the Irish Sea. Its population at the 2011 UK Census was 10,651, distributed evenly across the island's two Wards of Walney North and Walney South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrow Island, Barrow-in-Furness</span> Area and former electoral ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England

Barrow Island is an area and former electoral ward of Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Originally separate from the British mainland, land reclamation in the 1860s saw the northern fringes of the island connected to Central Barrow. Barrow Island is also bound to the south and east by the town's dock system and to the west by Walney Channel. The Ward population taken at the 2011 census was 2,616.

Vickerstown is an area of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, covered by the wards of Walney North and Walney South. It is an example of a model village built for workers by a company needing to expand, having been constructed in the early 20th century by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. Vickerstown contains two Conservation Areas and is home to the majority of the population of Walney Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BAE Systems Submarines</span> Submarine manufacturing company

BAE Systems Submarines, is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems, based in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, and is responsible for the development and production of submarines.

The Dock Museum is situated in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Most of its exhibits concern the history of the town, focusing on the shipbuilding industry at VSEL, the steelworks industry — of which Barrow once had the world's largest, the Furness Railway and the World War II bombings of the town. There has been a museum in Barrow since 1907 and in its current location since 1994, when 50,000 people visited it in its first year, visitor numbers peaked at 120,000 in 2001. The museum has free entry and remains under public ownership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devonshire Dock Hall</span> Shipbuilding facility in Barrow-in-Furness, England

Devonshire Dock Hall is a large indoor shipbuilding and assembly complex that forms part of the BAE Systems shipyard in the Barrow Island area of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrow Blitz</span> WWII aerial bombardment of British city

The Barrow Blitz is the name given to the Luftwaffe bombings of Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom during World War II. They took place primarily during April and May 1941, although the earliest Luftwaffe bombing occurred in September 1940. VSEL shipyard was the main target for bombing alongside Barrow's steelworks, which were formerly the largest in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devonshire Dock</span> Dock in Barrow-in-Furness, England

Devonshire Dock is the oldest of the four docks which make up the Port of Barrow in Barrow-in-Furness, England. Although the dock falls under the control of Associated British Ports it is currently solely utilised by BAE Systems. Upon completion of the dock, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone stated 'Barrow would one day become another Liverpool'. Although its shipbuilding capabilities have exceeded those on Merseyside, the port and dock system itself never fully met James Ramsden's grand vision for the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness</span> Place in Cumbria, England

The Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness is a £200 million development under construction in and around the Port of Barrow, England. The site covers an area of some 400 acres (160 ha) and was due for completion in 2020. The internal road network is already complete, with construction of a large business park complex ongoing and work on a 400-berth marina and 650 home Marina Village due to start thereafter. In 2010, The Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness ranked as the ninetieth most costly regeneration project in the United Kingdom by Regeneration & Renewal. Progress on the project stalled between 2010 and 2016 due to complications with funding following the disabandonment of the North West Regional Development Agency. BAE Systems opened a large logistics warehouse named the Resolution Building on Dova Way within the designated Business Park Area in October 2016, while and construction of a new access road from Salthouse Road to the Marina Village commenced in May 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrow Hematite Steel Company</span>

The Barrow Hematite Steel Company Limited was a major iron and steel producer based in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England, between 1859 and 1963. At the turn of the 20th century and the Technological Revolution it operated the largest steel mill in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VSEL Heavy Engineering Workshop</span>

The VSEL Heavy Engineering Workshop located at Michaelson Road in the Barrow Island area of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England is a Grade II listed former ammunitions workshop that belonged to Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. Known locally as the 'Gun Shop' the vast complex was constructed in stages between 1875 and 1900 and consists of 42 by 11 bays. The building was a major component of the engineering division within Vickers and supplied the British Army and Royal Navy throughout World War I and World War II. Everything from basic shells to heavy duty gun turrets for ships, tanks and other land vehicles were produced and assembled at the workshop. The Historic England states the following of the building: 'It clearly indicates the scale of operation of the shipbuilding and engineering works at the turn of the century; its roadside frontages make a major contribution to the industrial scene in a town where the buildings of other major C19 industries have been almost completely swept away.'

The following is a timeline of the history of Barrow-in-Furness, England, United Kingdom.

References

  1. ↑ "UNLOCODE (GB) - UNITED KINGDOM". www.unece.org. UNECE. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Port of Barrow-in-Furness, U.K." www.findaport.com. Shipping Guides Ltd. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "Barrow-in-Furness, Britain's Newest Cruise Liner Port and Gateway to the English Lake District by Sea". lake-district-peninsulas.co.uk. n.d. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Port of Barrow: Port Home". Associated British Port Holdings. Archived from the original on 7 November 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  5. ↑ "Ironbridge Gorge Museum - Barrow". ironbridge.org.uk. n.d. Archived from the original on 19 August 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  6. ↑ Effects on employment of the closure of VSEL or YSL Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Railway Magazine August 1936 page vii
  8. ↑ "Ports and Harbours | Industrial History of Cumbria".
  9. ↑ "History of the Furness Railway Company". The Furness Railway Trust. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  10. ↑ The Naval and Armaments Company Limited (1896). The Works at Barrow-in-Furness of The Naval Construction and Armaments Company Limited - Historical and Descriptive. Barrow-in-Furness: The Naval and Armaments Company Limited, partly reprinted from 'Engineering' magazine. p. 54.
  11. ↑ Partridge, Frank (16 March 2006). "The Complete Guide to: England's Islands". The Independent. Independent News & Media. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  12. ↑ "The Rotary Club of Furness". The Rotary Club of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2007.
  13. ↑ "Submarine History of Barrow-in-Furness". Submarine Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 4 July 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  14. ↑ "The Battle of Britain - Diary - 2 September 1940". RAF. 16 February 2005. Archived from the original on 15 August 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  15. ↑ "World War II" (PDF). Dock Museum. 16 February 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  16. ↑ Mort, Maggie; Graham, Spinardi (2004). "Defence and the decline of UK mechanical engineering: the case of Vickers at Barrow". Business History. 46 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1080/00076790412331270099. S2CID   153992331.
  17. ↑ Views of main parties as part of report into British Aerospace PLC proposed merger with VSEL (PDF), Competition Commission, 23 May 1995, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2011
  18. ↑ Mort, Maggie (2002). Building the Trident Network. MIT Press. ISBN   0-262-13397-0.
  19. ↑ Schofield, Steven (January 2007). "Oceans of Work: Arms Conversion Revisited" (PDF). British American Security Information Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2007.
  20. 1 2 3 4 "Port of Barrow: Commodities". abports.co.uk. n.d. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  21. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. 1 2 3 4 "Port of Barrow: Facilities". abports.co.uk. n.d. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  23. 1 2 "ABP's north-west ports report solid performance in 2006". abports.co.uk. 21 February 2007. Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2019. http://www.ports.co.uk/news20075613.htm
  24. 1 2 3 4 "Cruise ship Deutschland returns to warm welcome in Barrow". Associated British Port Holdings. 1 June 2006. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  25. 1 2 "Sound first half of the year for ABP's north-west ports". Associated British Port Holdings. 3 September 2003. Archived from the original on 15 February 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  26. ↑ "ABP Barrow welcomes wise goddess of the waves". Associated British Port Holdings. 2 September 2004. Archived from the original on 13 September 2004. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  27. ↑ "Review of the year". North West Evening Mail. 4 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  28. ↑ "Luxury cruise ship Adonia docks at Barrow". North West Evening Mail. 23 June 2014. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.