Port of Tyne | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Location | Tyne and Wear |
Coordinates | 54°59′08″N1°27′38″W / 54.9855°N 1.4605°W |
UN/LOCODE | GBTYN |
Details | |
Owned by | Port of Tyne trust port |
Employees | 459 |
Chief Executive Officer | Matt Beaton |
Harbour Master | Alan Feast |
Statistics | |
Annual cargo tonnage | 4.4 million tonnes |
Annual container volume | 66,000 TEU |
Passenger traffic | 748,000 |
Annual revenue | £57.5 million |
Cars imported/exported | 526,000 |
Website www |
The Port of Tyne comprises the commercial docks on and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear in the northeast of England.
There has been a port on the Tyne at least since the Romans used their settlement of Arbeia to supply the garrison of Hadrian's Wall. Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river in Newcastle, an indication that trade was increasing. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool-exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt, and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields. [1]
From 1600 the growth in the export of coal brought prosperity to Newcastle. Until the 19th century the port was the responsibility of the City of Newcastle, but navigation became difficult, and in 1850 the Tyne Improvement Commission (TIC) was established to better maintain the port and river. In 1881 they published a review of their achievements. [2] One significant action was the removal by dredging of Kings Meadow Island. A major force through this period were the Keelmen.
The TIC deepened the river to 9.83 metres, and built the North and South Piers, and the Northumberland, Tyne and Albert Edward Docks. In 1928 the TIC opened the Tyne Commission Quay at North Shields, now known as the Northumbrian Quay, to handle mail and cargo trade with Bergen in Norway. [3]
In 1968 the TIC was dissolved and replaced by the Port of Tyne Authority. Since then, with the decline in the coal industry, the port has switched to the export of cars manufactured in the northeast of England. [4]
The Port of Tyne is the navigation authority for the tidal reaches of the River Tyne, from the mouth to the Tidal Stone at Wylam, a distance of 17 miles. It also has jurisdiction for one mile past the roundheads at the piers at the river mouth. [5]
The port handles conventional and bulk cargoes at the Riverside Quay. There are two car terminals, one on either side of the river, a cruise terminal at Northumbrian Quay on the north side, and a ferry terminal at North Shields. [6]
The Port of Tyne applied to become a freeport after the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 but the application was rejected. [7]
The Tyne Improvement Commission Docks and Piers Police was a police force maintained by the TIC from 1874 to police its property. Its officers were sworn as special constables under the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 and had full police powers on TIC property. The force was disbanded on 1 September 1949, although its members remained in the Commission's employment as Watchmen in the Traffic and Engineering Department. Policing on Commission property was taken over by the River Tyne Police. [8]
Northumberland is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement.
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length is 73 miles (118 km). It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.
Sunderland is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. The built-up area had a population of 168,277 at the 2021 census, making it the second largest settlement in North East England after Newcastle. It is the administrative centre of the metropolitan borough of the same name.
South Shields is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman times as Arbeia and as Caer Urfa by the Early Middle Ages. It is the fourth largest settlement in Tyne and Wear, after Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland and Gateshead.
North Shields is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.
North Shields Fish Quay is a fishing port located close to the mouth of the River Tyne, in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, North East England, 8 miles (13 km) east of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed 7.5-mile (12.1 km) dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the river.
Wylam is a village and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, England. It is located about 10 miles (16 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.
Tyne Dock is a neighbourhood within the town of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, on the south bank of the River Tyne. It takes its name from the large dock on the river which was opened in 1859 by the North Eastern Railway to handle Tyneside's coal exports. At its height the trade amounted to seven million tons of coal transported via the four staiths which had been built to facilitate the process. This trade declined in the second half of the twentieth century and the bridges that carried the coal trains into the dock, the famous Tyne Dock Arches, were demolished from 1977 on. The dock itself has been progressively infilled since closure, allowing for the building of modern storage warehouses. This process concluded with the final 13 acres that were filled in as part of the project to build the second Tyne Tunnel. The Tyne Dock basin was filled with 400,000 cubic metres of sediment dredged from the Tyne.
Lemington is an area and electoral ward of Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England.
The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
The Incorporated Company of Hostmen of Newcastle upon Tyne, often called the Hostmen's Company of Newcastle, is a company incorporated by royal charter of 22 March 1599/1600. Analogous to a livery company of the City of London, it still exists. It is best known to economic historians as a cartel of businessmen who formed a monopoly to control the export of coal from the River Tyne in North East England. They were so known from the medieval practice of "hosting", whereby local businessmen provided visiting merchants with accommodation and introduced them to local traders. The Hostmen acted as middlemen with whom the coal producers and those who shipped the coal to London and elsewhere were forced to deal.
The River Tyne Police was a police force established under the Newcastle upon Tyne Port Act 1845 which patrolled the River Tyne in England between 1845 and 1968.
The Keelmen of Tyne and Wear were a group of men who worked on the keels, large boats that carried the coal from the banks of both rivers to the waiting collier ships. Because of the shallowness of both rivers, it was difficult for ships of any significant draught to move up river and load with coal from the place where the coal reached the riverside. Thus the need for shallow-draught keels to transport the coal to the waiting ships. The keelmen formed a close-knit and colourful community on both rivers until their eventual demise late in the nineteenth century.
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The Grimsby Haven Company began dock development in the late 1700s, and the port was further developed from the 1840s onwards by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR) and its successors. The port has had three main dock systems:
The Port of Southampton is a major passenger and cargo port located in the central part of the south coast of England. It has been an important port since the Roman occupation of Britain nearly two thousand years ago, and has a multifaceted history. From the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century, it was a centre for naval shipbuilding and a departure point for soldiers going to war. The port also played a role in the development of hovercraft, flying boat services, seaplanes and the Spitfire fighter plane. Before the advent of jet travel, Southampton was Britain's gateway to the world. The port also played a minor role in the history of Britain's canals.
In 685, King Ecgfrith granted Benedict Biscop a "sunder-land". Also in 685 The Venerable Bede moved to the newly founded Jarrow monastery. He had started his monastic career at Monkwearmouth monastery and later wrote that he was "ácenned on sundorlande þæs ylcan mynstres". This can be taken as "sundorlande" or the settlement of Sunderland. Alternatively, it is possible that Sunderland was later named in honour of Bede's connections to the area by people familiar with this statement of his.
The High and Low Lights of North Shields are decommissioned leading lights in North Shields, Tyne and Wear in the United Kingdom. Two pairs of lights survive: the older pair date from 1727 and were operational until 1810; the newer pair then took over, remaining in use until 1999. All four are listed buildings. They were sometimes known as the Fish Quay High and Low Lights, or as 'Fish Quay ' and 'Dockwray Square '.
Percy Main is a small village absorbed into North Shields, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it is now part of Tyne and Wear.