![Garston Docks, Liverpool, 1962](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Garston_Docks%2C_Liverpool%2C_1962.jpg)
The Port of Garston, also known as Garston Docks is an enclosed tidal dock system on the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...
at
Garston, approx 6 miles from Liverpool City centre
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is operated by
Associated British Ports
Associated British Ports owns and operates 21 ports in the United Kingdom, managing around 25 per cent of the UK's sea-borne trade. The company's activities cover transport, haulage and terminal operations, ship's agency, dredging and marine cons ...
History
Garston Dock was originally set up by the
St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway Company in June 1853. It contains
Old Dock
The Old Dock, originally known as Thomas Steers' dock, was the world's first commercial wet dock.
The dock was built on the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, starting in 1710 and completed in 1716. A natural tidal pool off the River Mersey ...
,
North Dock and
Stalbridge Dock.
By 1936 the 3 docks had of water, of sidings, of storage and dealt with about two million tons of goods a year.
Present day
![Stalbridge Dock, Liverpool, January 2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Stalbridge_Dock%2C_Liverpool%2C_January_2020.jpg)
The present site covers 65 acres. Approximately 425k of imported freight is handled per annum. No cargo is exported from Garston. The port handles fertiliser, cement, stone, sea dredged aggregate
and agribulks. Wheat, steel and salt imports alongwith scrap exports have relocated to other port facilities both locally and elsewhere within UK in recent years. Between 2012 and 2017, ABP invested several million pounds in essential investment, replacing lock gates, additional storage facilities and the purchase of new crane capacity.
Owing to decline of trade at port the crane purchased has been transferred within ABP to Newport June 2022. Land ABP deemed non essential to port operations has been sold for a housing development which now borders a section of the port estate.
References
External links
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*https://web.archive.org/web/20051119104917/http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConNarrative.37&chapterId=189
MultiMap photo
Liverpool
Ports and harbours of the Irish Sea
*
Mersey docks
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