A mid-1900's view to the coal tip no 13 (I believe!), showing the turntable and the crossover arrangement on a common level which improved efficiency at the new steel tips built at Tannett, Walker & Company. The rear end of a coal truck is connected to the hoist and is about to be tipped, or has just been tipped.

In the main dock, all the original tips were built upon masonry piers at fixed distances apart. This distance was defined forty or so years earlier when ships were much shorter in length and most had only one or two holds. The newest steamships had two, four or more hatches to fill through, plus bunker fuel hatches at various locations, and the only solution was to reposition the ship each time under the chute when a hold was full.

The proximity of a ship at the adjacent tip was often a conflict and delays ensued as ships grew in capacity and their overall length. The optimum solution was the new moveable tips as per tip numbers 15 to 20, but on the south side of the dock this was not possible. To remove some of the original tips from service and install new high level tips at positions 8, 10 and 13 was the probably best option available, [000] [002]