Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - A History of Penarth Dock by Roy Thorne . . .

The T.V.R. chairman, Inskip, in 1885 suggested that the T.V.R. should acquire the Bute Docks to strengthen their position against Barry. The House of Lords were willing to pass the Bill provided that the Barry Dock and Railway Company were given running power from Treforest to the Rhondda Valley over T.V.R. lines, but T.V.R. withdrew the Bill.

The work at Barry employed 3,000 men, and the dock was opened on Thursday 15th July 1889. Barry had many advantages over both Cardiff and Penarth. The dock at Barry was nearer deep water and ships could enter an hour earlier and leave an hour later than in the older ports.

The distance from the dock entrance to deep water was much shorter and there were no dangerous shoals on which ships might run aground. The equipment at Barry was also more modern.

Barry was an immediate success. In the first five months of its existence over a million tons of coal were exported. Cardiff was little affected as its exports fell by 5% and the Bute Directors noted that "the trade of the docks for the half year ending 31st December 1889 has been fairly well maintained, notwithstanding the new competition created by the opening of the Barry Dock in July last." [1161]

By sponsoring a railway to the Rhymney Valley and capturing the whole traffic for their docks, Barry Dock did not affect Cardiff as much as Penarth’s T.V.R. dock. It was more heavily affected. Its coal carrying trade fell from 2.7 million tons in 1889 to 1.9 million tons in 1891.

Penarth Dock’s exports were affected for the worse much more than Cardiff's, so much so that alarm was expressed by the T.V.R. shareholders and their Board was reformed under a new manager. In the first full year of Barry Dock's existence coal shipments at Penarth fell by 45%.

Later as more collieries came into operation this loss in trade was recuperated but Penarth's percentage increased little. Many of the freighters shipping at Penarth were promoters of the Barry Dock and Railway and so shipped a lot of their coal at Barry.