Volume Four - An Era of Change, Uncertainty, Depression & War - Penarth Dock closure in 1936 . . .

Production continued steadily in the initial period of the war, but after Denmark and Norway had been over-run and with the fall of Holland, Belgium and France and the entry of Italy into the war, the South Wales coal export trade virtually came to a standstill. Vessels at sea with coal for foreign destinations had to make their way back to the home ports and in some cases the cargo had to be dumped into the sea. Inevitably, many collieries came to a stop. It was an issue of life and death for the nation.

Men left the collieries for the Forces and the factories, and about 30,000 of the men in the younger age groups were lost to the South Wales mining industry in that way. The colliery owners were, however, pressed to keep their undertakings in operation as far as possible because of the potential menace of air raids and the need to maintain alternative sources of supply if certain collieries were bombed. Thus the coalfield was under a compunction to operate a large number of collieries at only a proportion of their capacity.

This largely accounts for the high proportion of 'necessitous undertakings' which were dependent on the National Coal Charges Fund during the war and for the wholly uneconomic position in which the coalfield found itself in the war. The taunt had then to be met that it was kept in existence only by the charity of the profitable coalfields, but the truth was that most of the other coalfields did not experience the 'economic blitz' which fell on South Wales.'

1932 - A newspaper report from Queensland, Australia, charts the inevitable demise of Penarth Dock and the Ely Tidal Harbour due to the continuance of the trade depression at the port.

The following report was published within the United States Department of Commerce, Commerce Reports, Volume 1, which covered the first three months of 1922 and was written by the American Consul to Cardiff, John, R. Bradley. [1204]