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The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the
Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...
Estuary in
Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...
, in the
East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...
, England. Seaborne trade at the port can be traced to at least the 13th century, originally conducted mainly at the outfall of the River Hull, known as The Haven, or later as the Old Harbour. In 1773, the Hull Dock Company was formed and Hull's first dock built on land formerly occupied by
Hull town walls Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
. In the next half century a ring of docks was built around the Old Town on the site of the former fortifications, known as the Town Docks. The first was The Dock (1778), (or The Old Dock, known as Queen's Dock after 1855), followed by Humber Dock (1809) and Junction Dock (1829). An extension, Railway Dock (1846), was opened to serve the newly built
Hull and Selby Railway The Hull and Selby Railway is a railway line between Kingston upon Hull and Selby in the United Kingdom which was authorised by an act of 1836 and opened in 1840. As built the line connected with the Leeds and Selby Railway (opened 1834) at Selb ...
. The first dock east of the river, Victoria Dock, opened in 1850. Docks along the banks of the Humber to the west were begun in 1862 with the construction of the West Dock, later Albert Dock. The William Wright extension opened in 1880, and a dock further west, St Andrew's Dock, opened in 1883. In 1885, Alexandra Dock, a new eastern dock was built connected to a new railway line constructed by the same company, the Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company. In 1914, King George Dock was built jointly by the competing railway companies, the Hull and Barnsley company and the North Eastern Railway; this was extended in 1969 by the Queen Elizabeth Dock extension. As of 2016 Alexandra is being modernised for use in wind farm construction, with a factory and estuary side quay under construction, a development known as Green Port Hull. The Town Docks, Victoria Dock, and St Andrew's Dock fell out of use by the 1970s and were closed. Some were later infilled and redeveloped, with the Humber and Railway docks converted for leisure craft as
Hull Marina Hull Marina is a marina for pleasure boats situated in the English city of Kingston upon Hull. It was opened in 1983 on the site of the former Railway Dock and Humber Dock and is managed by British Waterways Marinas Limited (BWML). The mari ...
. Other facilities at the port included the Riverside Quay, built on the Humber banks at Albert Dock for passenger ferries and European trains, and the Corporation Pier, from which a
Humber Ferry The Humber Ferry was a ferry service on the Humber between Kingston upon Hull and New Holland in Lincolnshire which operated until the completion of the Humber Bridge in 1981. History The Norse-derived names of North Ferriby and South Fer ...
sailed to
New Holland, Lincolnshire New Holland is a village, civil parish and port on the Humber estuary in North Lincolnshire, England. In 2001 it had a population of 955, increasing marginally to 970 at the 2011 census. History New Holland was established in the early 19th-cen ...
. Numerous industrial works were served by the River Hull, which also hosted several dry docks. To the east of Hull,
Salt End Salt End or Saltend is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated on the north bank of the Humber Estuary just outside the Hull eastern boundary on the A1033 road. It forms part of the civi ...
near
Hedon Hedon is a town and civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of Hull city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads. It is ...
became a petroleum distribution point in the 20th century, with piers into the estuary for shipment, and later developed as a chemical works. As of 2020, the main port is operated by Associated British Ports and is estimated to handle one million passengers per year; it is the main softwood timber importation port for the UK.


History


Background

Hull lies at a naturally advantageous position for a port on the north side of the Humber Estuary, to the west of a bend southwards giving rise to (on average) deeper water; and the River Hull flows out into the Humber at the same point. Confluence of River Hull and Humber Estuary The initial development of a port was undertaken by wool-producing
Meaux Abbey Meaux Abbey (archaic, also referred to as ''Melsa'') was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1151 by William le Gros, 1st Earl of Albemarle (Count of Aumale), Earl of York and 4th Lord of Holderness, near Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Eng ...
before 1200 as a route for export. An important event in the history of Hull as a port was its acquisition by King Edward I. In 1297, it became the only port from which goods could be exported overseas from the county of
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. Thus, in the 13th and 14th centuries Hull was a major English port for the export of wool,Much of it from the North Yorkshire Moors then called Blackhower Moor, additionally wheat, corn, lead and leather were exported, and later in the 14th century also cloth. much of it to
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, with wine being a major import.Also dyestuffs –
Madder ''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known ...
,
Woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...
as well as Alum for
mordant A mordant or dye fixative is a substance used to set (i.e. bind) dyes on fabrics by forming a coordination complex with the dye, which then attaches to the fabric (or tissue). It may be used for dyeing fabrics or for intensifying stains in ...
, as well as wood, iron and iron ore and a wide variety of foreign goods.
During this period the River Hull was made navigable as far as the then important town of
Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known fo ...
(1269), and roads were built connecting Hull to Beverley and
Holderness Holderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the north-east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common wit ...
and to the ''
via regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History Origins The V ...
'' between Hessle and Beverley near to
Anlaby Anlaby is a village forming part of the western suburbs of Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Anlaby with Anlaby Common. History Anlaby is recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' as "U ...
(about 1302). By the 15th century, trade with the Hanseatic league had become important. During the same period the growth of the English cloth industry meant that the export of cloth from Hull increased while wool exports decreased. The 16th century brought a considerable reduction in the amount of cloth traded through the port, but the export of lead increased. By the late 17th century Hull was the third port in the realm after London and
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, with the export of lead and cloth, and imports of flax and hemp as well as iron and
tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
from the Baltic. Until 1773, trade was conducted via the Old Harbour, also known as The Haven, a series of
wharves A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...
on the west bank of the River Hull,The east of the river not being developed until later with warehouses and the merchants' houses backing on to the wharves along the High Street.


Hull Dock Company

By the 18th century it was becoming increasingly clear that the Haven was unfit for the growing amount of trade: it was not only narrow, but tidal and prone to a build up of mud from the estuary. An additional stimulus to change was the demand for a 'legal quay' on which customs officials could easily examine and weigh goods for export without causing excessive delay to shipments. In 1773, the
Hull Corporation (Kingston upon) Hull City Council is the governing body for the unitary authority and city of Kingston upon Hull. It was created in 1972 as the successor to the Corporation of (Kingston upon) Hull, which was also known as Hull Corporation and fou ...
,
Hull Trinity House The Hull Trinity House, locally known as ''Trinity House'', is a seafaring organisation consisting of a charity for seafarers, a school, and a guild of mariners. The guild originated as a religious guild providing support and almshouses for the n ...
and Hull merchants formed a Dock Company, the first statutory dock company in Britain. The Crown gave the land which contained Hull's city walls for construction of docks, and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1774 allowing the Dock Company to raise up to £100,000 by shares and loans; thus Hull's first dock (the Old Dock) (a
wet dock Wet may refer to: * Moisture, the condition of containing liquid or being covered or saturated in liquid * Wetting (or wetness), a measure of how well a liquid sticks to a solid rather than forming a sphere on the surface Wet or WET may also refe ...
) began construction. Three docks, known as the Town Docks, which followed the path of the town walls, were constructed by the company between 1778 and 1829: The Old Dock, later Queen's Dock, (1778), Humber Dock (1809), and Junction Dock, later Prince's Dock, (1829). An extension of the Town Docks (Railway Dock) was built in 1846 just north of the terminus of the then recently opened
Hull and Selby Railway The Hull and Selby Railway is a railway line between Kingston upon Hull and Selby in the United Kingdom which was authorised by an act of 1836 and opened in 1840. As built the line connected with the Leeds and Selby Railway (opened 1834) at Selb ...
. The first dock in Hull east of the River Hull (Victoria Dock) was constructed between 1845 and 1850; this became the main dock for timber trade and was expanded in the next two decades including the construction of large timber ponds. also historical maps of the near area, and information on the Hull Citadel In 1860, a rival company, the West Dock Company, was formed to promote and build new docks suitable for the increasing amounts of trade and the growing size of steam ships; the scheme was supported by the Hull Corporation, Hull Trinity House, the North Eastern Railway (NER) and various individuals in Hull. The site for the planned dock was on the Humber foreshore to the west of the River Hull. The Dock Company then proposed a larger dock in the same position, which was sanctioned by an Act of Parliament in 1861 This dock was known as the Western Dock until its opening in 1869 when it was named Albert Dock; an extension, William Wright Dock, was opened 1880. A third dock (St Andrew's Dock) on the Humber foreshore west of the William Wright Dock was opened in 1883. The three docks were ideally suited for trans-shipment by rail as they were directly south of and parallel with the Selby to Hull railway line that terminated in the centre of Hull. In 1885, Alexandra Dock opened; it was owned and operated by the Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company. This ended the Dock Company's monopoly on dock facilities in Hull and led to price cutting competition between the two companies for dock charges. The Dock Company was operating at a loss and from 1886 sought to merge the company into a larger organisation—the obvious choice being the North Eastern Railway. In 1891, the Dock Company approached the North Eastern for capital to improve its Albert Dock, leading to the North Eastern Railway acquiring the shares and debts of the Dock Company in exchange for its shares. Instead of improving Albert Dock, the North Eastern decided to expend a much greater sum on a new dock, east of Alexandra Dock; however, the proposal was opposed by both the Hull and Barnsley, and the Hull Corporation. The Dock Company and NER were legally amalgamated in 1893; one of the clauses of the Act of Parliament allowing the merger stipulated that about £500,000 would be spent on dock improvements over the next seven years. Clauses in the 1893 amalgamation bill protecting the Hull and Barnsley company prevented the NER from creating a new deep water dock without consulting the
Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in af ...
(H&BR). This led to a joint proposal for a dock east of Alexandra Dock being submitted, and passed in 1899, as the "Hull Joint Dock Act". The new dock was opened in 1914 as the King George Dock.


Dock ownership (1922–)

The Hull and Barnsley Railway became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1922, making the docks in Hull the responsibility of a single company once again. The Railways Act 1921 led to the merger of the NER into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. In 1948, much of Britain's transport operations were nationalised by the
Transport Act 1947 The Transport Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 49) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under the terms of the Act, the railway network, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were nationalised and came under ...
into the
British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
, including the port and railway operations of the London North Eastern Railway (LNER). In 1962, the
British Transport Docks Board {{Unreferenced, date=August 2009 The British Transport Docks Board (BTDB) was a nationalised industry, managing former railway-owned docks in Great Britain. It was created by the Transport Act 1962 and abolished by the Transport Act 1981, which p ...
was formed by the
Transport Act 1962 The Transport Act 1962 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Described as the "most momentous piece of legislation in the field of railway law to have been enacted since the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854", it was passed by Haro ...
. In 1981, the company was privatised by the
Transport Act 1981 The Transport Act 1981 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Amongst other items it introduced the compulsory wearing of seat belts for front seat passengers for a trial period of three year. The major part of the act was for re-organ ...
, and Associated British Ports was formed. Later that year, the docks were struck by an F0/T0 tornado on 23 November, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The tornado was very weak, with damage remaining limited as a result; a second, stronger tornado struck Hull's north-eastern residential suburbs later that day.


Docks


The Town Docks


The Old Dock

By the mid-1700s the overcrowding of ships on the River Hull, or Old Harbour, had reached such an extent that vessels were being damaged, in addition to causing delays in handling and shipping. Therefore, some tentative investigations were begun into expanding the facilities at Hull. It was not until the later 1760s that the Hull Corporation acted and employed surveyors to search for a suitable site for a new harbour. At the same time,
HM Customs HM Customs (His or Her Majesty's Customs) was the national Customs service of England (and then of Great Britain from 1707, the United Kingdom from 1801) until a merger with the Department of Excise in 1909. The phrase 'HM Customs', in use si ...
sought an end to the need to inspect cargoes handled at the private wharves and wanted customs procedures incorporated into a new dock or wharf—a "legal quay". An initial survey by Robert Mylne and Joseph Robson recommended a new harbour on the east side of the River Hull. Though the established development on the east bank tended to preclude a new port there, the same interests were unwilling to see the focus of trade shift away from the west bank where they were already established. In the early 1770s, John Grundy was contracted by agriculturalists owning land reliant on the drainage of the River Hull to assess the impact of the proposed new quay on the River Hull. Grundy's report of 1772 suggested either widening the river, or using the channel behind the Hull Citadel, or the moat of the Hull town walls for both harbourage and drainage. Grundy also proposed the use of gates in the channel to afford both wet and dry docks. Reports were prepared on the cost ( John Wooler) and the effect on the river (
John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fi ...
) of Grundy's proposal for a quay on the site of the town's moat. The dock was costed at between £55,000 and £60,000, and the quay between £11,000 and £12,000. Smeaton's report indicated no issues arising in terms of the flow of the river. After both reports had been provided in early 1773 the Corporation and Customs soon agreed to proceed with the plan. With limited opposition only on the grounds of the effect on drainage, an act for the construction was obtained in 1774. The Old Dock, the first dock in Hull, was built between 1775 and 1778 to a design by
Henry Berry Henry Berry, (1719 in England – 1812) was Liverpool's second dock engineer succeeding Thomas Steers and being succeeded by Thomas Morris. Berry Street in Liverpool may be named after Berry who lived in a house at the junction with Duke Stree ...
and John Grundy, Jr.; Luke Holt acted as resident engineer, appointed on John Smeaton's recommendation. As built the dock was long by wide, Queen's Dock (Old Dock, or The Dock), now Queen's Gardens the lock long by wide at its extremities, and deep, the lock river basin was in dimension. The dock entrance was on the River Hull just south of North Bridge, and the dock itself built west-south-west along the path of the North Wall as far as the Beverley Gate. The dock walls were of local brick, with Bramley Fall stone
coping Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social. Theories of coping Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...
piece. Cement for the lock wall's front construction was rendered waterproof through the use of
pozzolana Pozzolana or pozzuolana ( , ), also known as pozzolanic ash ( la, pulvis puteolanus), is a natural siliceous or siliceous- aluminous material which reacts with calcium hydroxide in the presence of water at room temperature (cf. pozzolanic reacti ...
imported from Italy. Piling for the walls consisted of piles narrowing from to at the bottom supporting
sleepers ''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...
wide by deep
trenail A treenail, also trenail, trennel, or trunnel, is a wooden peg, pin, or dowel used to fasten pieces of wood together, especially in timber frames, covered bridges, wooden shipbuilding and boat building. It is driven into a hole bored through two ...
ed to the piles. The alluvium excavated during the dock construction was deposited mostly on land to the north, raising the ground by —the land was later sold for building upon. Some of the work proved inadequate, requiring reconstruction later. Issues with weak ground led to displacement bulging of the dock's walls in 1776 before the dock had been completed. Both Holt and Berry had recommended extra piling at the softer ground areas but had been over-ruled. Subsequent movement of the walls proved additional piling was necessary. By 1778 some parts of the dock walls were displaced from their proper position by , exacerbated by poor wall design and its
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es. Further issues occurred on the lock to the River Hull, and the north wall of the lock basin collapsed before construction had been completed. Despite these setbacks the dock was formally opened on 22 September 1778. The lock required rebuilding in the 1780s to prevent total collapse, and in 1814 the lock and basin were rebuilt under the guidance of John Rennie the Elder with George Miller as resident engineer. The lock was rebuilt of brick with pozzuolana mortar, faced with Bramley Fall stone. After rebuilding the lock was long by wide, with height above the sills; the depth of water being between depending on the tide. At the entrance to the dock a double drawbridge of the Dutch type, counterbalanced for ease of use, allowed people to cross the lock. The main part of the bridge was cast iron, built by Ayden and Etwell of the Shelf Iron Works (Bradford). The lock basin was rebuilt at the same time, to the same design as used in the new Humber Dock—the new basin was long, narrowing from wide from top to bottom. Both the lock and the basin were re-opened on 13 November 1815. The dock was called The Dock until the construction of further docks, when it was called The Old Dock. It was officially named the Queen's Dock in 1855. The dock closed in 1930 and was sold to the Corporation for £100,000. It was subsequently infilled and converted to ornamental gardens known as Queen's Gardens.


Humber Dock

Since the entrance to the Old Dock was via the River Hull, there were still problems with ships accessing the dock through the crowded river. In 1781, a canal was proposed to connect the Old Dock to the Humber. In general, sea-borne trade was still growing. Customs commissioned three independent reports from Thomas Morris,
William Jessop William Jessop (23 January 1745 – 18 November 1814) was an English civil engineer, best known for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Jessop was born in Devonport, Devon, the ...
, and Joseph Huddart on the siting of a second dock in 1793. All three considered a dock in the southern end of the ditch of the city walls, and a dock on the site of Hull Citadel, also known as the Garrison. Two reports recommended the new dock be sited in the town ditch and proposed a canal connecting the old and new dock. The Dock Company then commissioned
John Hudson John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...
and
John Longbotham John Longbotham (died 1801) was a canal engineer and pupil of John Smeaton who in 1766 suggested a Leeds and Liverpool Canal and did a survey which was approved by James Brindley. He subsequently became the chief engineer and completed the canal ...
to examine and cost a dock in the town ditch, as well as other improvements. There was some delay in making the new dock a reality, partly due to the lethargy of the Dock Company, but by 1802 a bill had been passed in Parliament for the construction of a second dock—again following the path of the City walls, this time from Hessle gate roughly northwards. John Rennie and William Chapman were employed as engineers. They submitted an optimistic cost estimate for a dock in the town ditch with a basin onto the Humber of £84,000. Experience with the settlement and collapse of the old dock's walls led to more substantial construction of lock and dock walls, though some subsidence still occurred. The dock walls now stood on angled piled foundations, with the mass of the wall at a shallow angle to the vertical opposing the weight of earth behind. The lock base consisted of an inverted arch, a design also used on the rebuilt Old Dock lock of 1814. During the construction of the lock pit a freshwater spring was found, causing difficulties in construction. The spring continued to cause problems in the lock pit, with some subsidence attributed to it (1812); James Walker directed further remedial work on the lock in 1830 as a result. John Harrap was the on site engineer. Construction began in 1803 and was completed in 1809 at a cost of £220,000. Mud from the excavations was used to make new ground on the banks of the Humber, with the upper clay stratum also used to manufacture bricks for the works. The dock entrance was from the Humber via an outer basin with piers. Humber Dock entrance basin The dock itself was long and wide, the lock was long and wide. The depth of water varied from seasonally depending on the tides. Humber Dock (now part of
Hull Marina Hull Marina is a marina for pleasure boats situated in the English city of Kingston upon Hull. It was opened in 1983 on the site of the former Railway Dock and Humber Dock and is managed by British Waterways Marinas Limited (BWML). The mari ...
)
The lock was crossed by a two leaf
swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
, in total length, and wide, made of cast iron, by Ayden and Etwell, with six main ribs supporting the roadway. The dock was first filled with water on 3 December 1808 and was formally opened on 30 June 1809. The cost of construction was split between the Dock Company, the Hull Corporation and Hull Trinity House, as set out in the text of the 1802 act. Humber Dock closed in 1968, it re-opened in 1983 as the
Hull Marina Hull Marina is a marina for pleasure boats situated in the English city of Kingston upon Hull. It was opened in 1983 on the site of the former Railway Dock and Humber Dock and is managed by British Waterways Marinas Limited (BWML). The mari ...
. The dock, lock and swing bridge over the lock (a replacement dated 1846), are now listed structures. The swing bridge (Wellington Street Bridge) was restored in 2007.


Junction Dock

One stipulation of the Act of 1802 for the construction of Humber Dock was that the Dock Company would build a third dock between the Old and Humber docks when the average tonnage of goods unloaded at the docks reached a certain level. This condition was satisfied in 1825. The required Act of Parliament had already been passed in 1824, and construction of the third dock began in 1826. This dock, Junction Dock, was constructed between, and connected to the Old and Humber Docks. Junction Dock, later Prince's Dock, now the site of the
Princes Quay Princes Quay is a shopping centre in the heart of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The centre is unusual in that it is built on stilts over '' Prince's Dock'' after which it is named. It was opened in 1991. Description To ...
shopping centre
This made the old town of Hull an island bounded by the three docks, a river and an estuary, and built roughly along the lines of the old fortifications between Beverley and Myton gates, as set out in the 1802 act. It was designed by James Walker with Thomas Thorton and later John Timperley as resident engineer. The construction cost £186,000. The dock walls were similar in design to those of Humber Dock, as were the locks, with inverted, arched bottoms. While the
cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...
used in the construction of the northern lock was being dismantled a leak caused the undermining and collapse of around of the Old dock wall; the removal of debris was done using a
diving bell A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which c ...
, and the wall repaired with piling. The dock opened in 1829 and was long and wide, with a lock at each end wide with a bridge over each. The bridges were of the balanced lifting type; both bridges and locks were from Hunter and English (Bow, London), with iron from
Alfreton Alfreton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 7,971 at the 2011 Census. The villages of Ir ...
, Derbyshire. In 1855, it was renamed Prince's Dock in honour of a visit by
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
and Albert, Prince Consort. The dock closed in 1968. Part of the dock still exists but without a lock connection to Humber Dock. The
Princes Quay Princes Quay is a shopping centre in the heart of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The centre is unusual in that it is built on stilts over '' Prince's Dock'' after which it is named. It was opened in 1991. Description To ...
shopping centre, opened in 1991, was built over part of the dock on stilts. The dock now features a fountain.


Railway Dock

The Dock Company applied to build a new branch dock in May 1844, and obtained powers with the Kingston-upon-Hull Dock Act, 1844, which also enabled the construction of an east dock (later Victoria Dock). In late 1844, the company applied to expand the branch dock, which was enabled by the Kingston-upon-Hull Dock Act, 1845. The Railway Dock was connected on the west side of the Humber Dock to the north of Kingston Street and was smaller than the other town docks. The dock of , Railway Dock now part of Hull Marina approximately was constructed at a cost of £106,000. It opened on 3 December 1846. The Dock Company's engineer was J. B. Hartley, also the engineer on the east dock. Its primary purpose was for the transfer of goods to and from the newly built Hull and Selby Railway, which had its passenger terminus just west of Humber Dock facing onto Railway Street, and its goods sheds north of this (see
Manor House Street railway station Manor House Street station (also known as ''Kingston Street station'') was the original terminus station of the Hull and Selby Railway, opened in 1840 adjacent to the Humber Dock in Kingston upon Hull, England. In 1848 the station was superseded ...
). Railway lines also ran from the goods shed to the Humber Dock. Like Humber Dock, the dock closed in 1968 and in 1984 became part of Hull Marina.


Victoria Dock

After the construction of Junction Dock in 1825, the port and its trade continued to grow substantially, leading to the requirement for a new dock. In 1838, an independent company, the Queen's Dock Company, was formed to promote a new dock. The new dock, of around , to be called the Queen's Dock,The "Queen's Dock" proposal of 1838, forerunner of the Victoria Dock, should not be confused with the original Hull Dock of 1778, named "Queen's Dock" in 1854. was designed by James Oldham for a site of around in
Drypool Drypool (''archaic'' DripoleAlso Dritpole, Dritpol, Dripold, Dripol, Dridpol) is an area within the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. Historically Drypool was a village, manor and later parish on the east bank of the River Hull near the con ...
east of the River Hull and
The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...
and near the river's confluence with the Humber. The proposed dock had entrances onto the Humber and the Hull. Capital of £180,000 was proposed for the scheme. Proceedings for a bill in Parliament were begun in 1838.See footnote in quote "''The London Gazette of 16 November, containing the notice for a bill to make the Queen's Dock, was put in."'' The Queen's Dock Company abandoned the project, after the Dock Company took up a similar proposal. In September 1839 James Walker was asked to design plans for a dock, and proceedings for a bill in Parliament were begun at the end of that year. The dock's main aim was to accommodate the increased timber trade, freeing up the town docks; alternative plans were also considered including a west dock, and the conversion of the Old Harbour (River Hull) into a dock. Walker's dock was broadly similar to the built dock, with entrances onto both the Humber and the River Hull. The design allowed for an extension to the east with timber ponds at a later date. The 1840 bill was withdrawn due to local opposition. In 1844, the company returned again to Parliament with a bill for a dock in the same location, as well as other works including the Railway Dock. Permission to build the new east dock, and railway dock was granted in 1844; construction of this new dock began in 1845 and was completed in 1850 at a cost of £300,000. The Dock Company's engineer for this project was J. B. Hartley; the plan was similar in overall form to that of James Walker's design. The formal laying of the foundation stone took place on 5 November 1845, and the formal opening on 3 July 1850, with the dock given the name Victoria Dock, in honour of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
. The dock had an area of about , with the Half Tide Basin , the outer basin onto the Humber , and the Drypool Basin .Dock: 12 acres 3 rods 13 perch; Half Tide Basin: 3 acres; Victoria Dock Basin: 2 acres 3 rods; and the Drypool Basin 1 acre 20 perch. In some respects the dock was of a slightly larger design than Walker's 1840 proposal. The water depth was (spring to neap tide), and the entrances to the Humber and the Hull River were wide respectively. There were two entrances. The larger entrance was onto the Humber. From an outer basin it led via two parallel locks to the Half Tide Basin, Half Tide Basin, Victoria Dock and then to the dock itself. Victoria Dock, defunct The second entrance was onto the River Hull south of the entrance to the Old Dock and of Drypool Bridge; it had an outer lock which opened directly to a second locked area known as Drypool Basin. Drypool Basin, Victoria Dock (defunct) The first timber pond was added soon after the construction of the dock. In 1845, the
York, Hull and East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway The York, Hull and East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway was a proposed railway line, promoted in the mid 1840s, intended to connect York to the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The line was not built, instead an alternative proposal, the ...
proposed a railway line from
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
to Hull which was to terminate at the East Dock. As a consequence, the
York and North Midland Railway The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840 extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its first c ...
(Y&NMR) was forced to bring forward its own scheme to connect the east dock to the railway network. The Y&NMR's Victoria Dock Branch Line was opened in 1853. In 1863, the dock itself was expanded eastwards by , plus another timber pond (No. 2) of east of the dock. The original timber pond (No. 1) east of the Half Tide Basin was extended through land reclaimed from the Humber. In 1875, the extent of the two ponds was respectively. The western boundary of the dock was defined by the Hull Citadel, which was sold to the Dock company and demolished in 1864. The site was then used for timber storage. Part of the former Citadel land was used by Martin Samuelson and Company (later Humber Iron Works) for shipbuilding, and later by
Cook, Welton & Gemmell Cook, Welton & Gemmell was a shipbuilding, shipbuilder based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull and Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. England. They built trawlers and other small ships. History Founding and move to Beverley The firm was founded ...
(from 1883 to 1902). C. & W. Earle also had shipbuilding facilities (established 1851) on the banks of the Humber adjacent to and south of Victoria Dock. Part of the north-west corner of the eastern timber pond (No. 2) was filled in because of changes to the railway layout north of the dock. In the late 1930s, the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) closed the entrance to No. 2 pond and partially filled in its south side, and expanded timber storage and sidings for the dock to the east over the site of the former shipyard of Earle's Shipbuilding, as part of wider improvements to rail connected timber handling facilities at the dock. By the second half of the 20th century, both ponds had been filled in creating timber yards and sidings;Ordnance Survey Sheet 240NE (1888–1950) this pattern of use was retained until closure. One major use of the dock was for the trade in timber. There were also facilities for cattle imports including abattoirs and cold storage; coal was also exported through the dock. The Dock closed in the 1970s and was infilled. The land was used for the construction of a housing estate in the late 1980s. The entrance basin to the dock on the Humber part remains though it is permanently sealed.


The West Dock


Albert Dock

Alderman Thomas Thompson had promoted a dock along the banks of the Humber in West Hull as early as the 1830s. In 1860, the West Dock Company was formed to promote a dock in this location, backed by the Hull Corporation, North Eastern Railway, the Hull Trinity House and leading Hull figures. The company proposed a dock of around long and of in area. In response, the Hull Dock Company promoted a rival scheme; both were put to Parliament and the Dock Company obtained an Act in 1861. The Hull Dock Act of 1861 sanctioned the building of a new dock on the Humber foreshore. While the dock was under construction two further acts were enacted: the 1866 act allowed the extension of the dock westwards, and the 1867 act allowed further expansion to the west and south.The 1865 and 1866 notices in ''The London Gazette'': * * The dock sanctioned in 1861 was to be long, the 1866 act increased the length to and the enclosed area to , and water depth of from high spring to neap tides. The total land area including locks, basins and reclaimed land to the west was . The engineer was
John Hawkshaw Sir John Hawkshaw FRS FRSE FRSA MICE (9 April 1811 – 2 June 1891), was an English civil engineer. He served as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1862-63. His most noteworthy work is the Severn Tunnel. Early life He was born ...
; the site engineer was J. C. Hawkshaw. Construction began in October 1862, with the foundation stone of the north dock wall laid by William Wright in May 1864. The southern dock walls and quays were on reclaimed land, and cofferdams were built which enclosed and split the works into three parts. Quay walls were built of sand and lime mortar with stone from
Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 18,895 at the ...
onto concrete foundations of on average thick laid on a clay strata reached by excavating down through clay and sand. During construction, on 17 September 1866 one of the south dock walls burst allowing the Humber to flood in. The breach was repaired by 13 October. During the construction of the lockpit the excavation work were troubled by "boils", which undermined the work. Boils caused a breach in the river bank on 17 September 1866, letting water into the works. In November, construction began on a dam of around in length from the south wall to the bank near the Humber Dock to protect the works. Boils appeared in the lockpit on 3 March 1867, and required extensive specialised remedial work to finish the foundations, taking until 20 November for the flow from the boils to be dealt with. Due to the difficulties encountered during construction, the length of the lock, originally intended to be , was reduced to . The width was . Machinery on the dock, including capstans and the lock gates, were worked by
hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...
power. The dock incorporated its own power supply, consisting of three (long by diameter) boilers supplying a steam engine which powered both the hydraulic system via a hydraulic accumulator at , as well as being able to pump mains water around the dock. The works also required the resiting (1864) of the goods line and sidings of the North Eastern Railway's Hull and Selby Line. When completed the dock included a connection to the NER and had doubled track or wider rail sidings on both quays, with the rails crossing the lock entrance by a hydraulically operated swing girder bridge. The dock's sidings were connected to the NER's system west of the dock. A small wharf was built outside the main dock for the shipping activities of the
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...
(MS&LR). Both the wharf and main dock led into an entrance basin of , which was partially filled in to create more space for the MS&LR. (See also Railway Creek.) The cost of the dock was £559,479 of which £113,582 was for the excavations, a similar amount for the dock walls and £88,655 for the entire lock constructions excluding the lock gates and machinery. The dock was opened in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales ( Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, and Alexandra, Princess of Wales) in 1869 and was named Albert Dock. Albert Dock Both the Albert and William Wright docks were closed to commercial vessels in 1972 and converted for use as fish docks. The Hull fish fleet moved to the docks in 1975. As of 2010, both docks remain in use for general cargo traffic, as well as being the landing point for the much reduced Hull fishing industry. In December 2013, a North Sea storm surge and high tide (
Cyclone Xaver Cyclone Xaver (or Storm Xaver), also known as the North Sea flood or tidal surge of 2013, was a winter storm that affected northern Europe. Force 12 winds and heavy snowfall were predicted along the storm's path, and there were warnings of a s ...
) caused overtopping of Albert Dock from the Riverside Quay waterfront and through the lockgates, resulting in flooding in Hull city centre. As a result, a flood defence improvement scheme was brought forward by two years; work on the £6.3 million flood defence improvement including a long wall high began in November 2014; the wall was completed by November 2015.


William Wright Dock

While the Albert Dock was still under construction, the Dock Company obtained another act in 1866 allowing the extension of the dock westwards, and an 1867 act that allowed further expansion to the west and south. gives an incorrect date of 1865 for the authority to build the William Wright Dock. Construction began in 1873, with R. A. Marillier as engineer and John Hawkshaw as consulting engineer. The dock was planned as an extension of the Albert Dock accessed via a channel. The foundation stone was formally laid by William Wright in 1876. The dock opened in 1880 and was named William Wright Dock after the chairman of the Dock Company. The dock was in size. William Wright Dock The 2013 storm surge (Cyclone Xaver) caused damage to the north-western wall of the dock—as a result Associated British Ports (ABP) sought to infill approximately of the dock as a repair.


Riverside Quay

In 1904, the North Eastern Railway (NER), then the main owner of the Hull docks, applied to Parliament for powers to build a quay along the bank of the River Humber, adjacent to its Albert Dock, and related works. Permission was obtained in 1905 to construct a quay of up to in length, and to dredge to a depth of below the low water level of ordinary spring tides. The quay was designed as a deep water quay for foodstuffs and other goods requiring rapid handling It avoided delays in entering locks, or having to wait for a low tide to turn. Additional works included construction of a two-storey warehouse for the fruit trade on the adjacent side of the Albert Dock, and the replacement of the single line railway swing bridge over the dock's entrance with a double track bridge. A quay of was constructed along the timbered wharf outward from Albert Dock, extending around farther into the estuary. The construction consisted of a bank of Middlesbrough slag around in depth deposited abutting the former quay wall, with about a 45° facing slope supported at the base by sheet piling. The quay's remaining support was formed on Blue Gum and Pitch pine
timber pilings Piling foundations support many historic structures such as canneries, wharves, and shore buildings. The old pilings present challenging problems during restoration as they age and are destroyed by organisms and decay. Replacing the foundation e ...
, spaced around . The long Blue Gum piles extended above ground level to form the supports for the structure's roof. As built, the quay was equipped with hydraulically powered capstans for shunting, and electric cranes; a water supply for ship supply and fire fighting was fitted, and gas lighting used. The electrical equipment was supplied by
Craven Brothers Cravens Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Limited was a railway rolling stock builder in the Darnall district of Sheffield, England. Founded by brothers named Craven and known as Craven Brothers, later Cravens Limited, it remained a family busi ...
. Hydraulic power was supplied via an accumulator tower which also functioned as a clock tower but was demolished after the Second World War. The pier also incorporated a passenger station for continental boat trains. of the quay was equipped for passenger traffic, with the quay decking raised to provide a platform. The station was used as a terminus for boat trains. The quay came into use in 1907. Initial operations were by the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...
(L&YR) and NER's joint ferry to
Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...
, followed by ships to Norway operated by
Wilson Line Thomas Wilson Sons & Co. was a British shipping company, founded in 1840,Greenway (1986), p. 48 It evolved from a joint venture formed by merchants Thomas Wilson, John Beckinton and two unrelated partners named Hudson in 1822. The company expan ...
, and to Rotterdam by the
Hull and Netherlands Steamship Company The Hull & Netherlands Steamship Co. Ltd. was formed in 1894 and brought together the shipping operations of CL Ringrose and WHH Hutchinson with the intention of concentrating their shipping services to that specific area of operation. History O ...
. The quay was fully completed by 1911. In the Second World War
Hull Blitz The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Large-scale attacks took place on several nights throughout March 1941, resulting in over ...
, the quay was destroyed by fires started by enemy bombing in May 1941. In the 1950s, a new long concrete quay was constructed and officially opened in 1959. The south side of Albert Dock was modernised to a similar design as the new Riverside Quay in 1964. Riverside quay (1950s replacement), original quay extended twice as far west


St Andrew's Dock

St Andrew's Dock was constructed at the same time as the extension of Albert Dock. The initial scheme was for a dock, in length, entered from the Humber by a long by wide dock. As with the Albert Dock extension, the engineers were Marillier and Hawkshaw. The dock was opened in 1883, directly to the west of William Wright Dock, with an area of over . Originally intended to be used for coal handling, it was used entirely for the fishing industry. says the dock was intended for general trade. The dock was extended by about after the Hull Dock Company was taken over by the North Eastern Railway, with work beginning in 1894. This work included the construction of slipways for boat repair. The new dock, St Andrew's Dock Extension, was connected at the west end via a channel; the slipways were at the far west end. While under construction, a cofferdam at the west end burst. This resulted in practically every vessel in the dock being damaged. The £20,000 damages included the destruction of three steamers and three other vessels. The cause was thought to be underground springs released during the pile driving and excavations. In the late 1930s, plans were made for improvements and expansion at the dock. By 1938 the major part of the plans had been postponed, with no expansion of the dock. In 1947, discussions about improvements to the dock's slipways were resumed, but no work was done. The dock was in use until 1975 when the fishing industry was moved to Albert Dock at which point it closed. Partial filling in of the dock began in the 1980s. The western part has been redeveloped into the St Andrews Quay retail park, while the eastern part of the dock around the entrance was declared a conservation area in 1990 because of its social historic interest. The dock entrance, and some shipping company buildings remain in situ, but the remains of the dock are completely silted up. St Andrew's Dock (location close to eastern entrance) In 2013, the charity St Andrew's Dock Heritage Park Action Group (STAND) selected a design for a memorial to the 6,000 Hull trawlermen who lost their lives in the fishing industry, to be sited next to the Humber at the dock.


Alexandra Dock

The Alexandra Dock was built between 1881 and 1885 on land reclaimed from the Humber as part of developments built by the Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company. Its design was by
James Abernethy James Abernethy FRSE (12 June 1814 – 8 March 1896) was a Scottish civil engineer. Biography Abernethy was born in Aberdeen to George Abernethy, an engineer, and Isabella Johnston. In 1823, the family moved to South Wales, where his father m ...
, and carried out by a partnership of engineers James Oldham and George Bohn, with A. C. Hurtzig as resident engineer. The contractors were
Lucas and Aird Lucas and Aird was a major civil engineering business operating in the 19th century. History The business was formed as a joint venture between Lucas Brothers and John Aird & Co. in 1870. The joint venture was dissolved in 1896. Major projects ...
. The dock machinery, including lock gates and unloading equipment, was hydraulically powered and supplied by Armstrong, Mitchell & Company. Pumping machines for the dry docks, and to regulate the water level of the main dock were supplied by Gwynne and Company (London)—two high pressure condensing engines drove
centrifugal pump Centrifugal pumps are used to transport fluids by the conversion of rotational kinetic energy to the hydrodynamic energy of the fluid flow. The rotational energy typically comes from an engine or electric motor. They are a sub-class of dynamic ...
s, the engines powered by six
Lancashire boiler A shell or flued boiler is an early and relatively simple form of boiler used to make steam, usually for the purpose of driving a steam engine. The design marked a transitional stage in boiler development, between the early haystack boilers and t ...
s. The dock was built to the east of Victoria Dock with an outlet to the Humber. Water to fill the dock came from the
Holderness Drain Holderness Drain is the main feature of a Land Drainage scheme for the area of Holderness to the east of the River Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Construction began in 1764, and several notable civil engineers were involved with t ...
, which was intended to minimise the silting up of the dock that would be caused by ingress of water from the Humber. The dock had an area of , on a site of of which was on land within the tidal range of the Humber, requiring the construction of a embankment to reclaim the land. Steam and hydraulically powered equipment was used to aid the construction of the dock. Blows (or "Boils") were encountered during the construction of the lock foundations, and at a point in the dock wall, which threatened to undermine the foundations and required remedial work. The dock walls were planned to be built of chalk rubble faced with ashlar. A strike by masons led to some lower sections of the walls being built using
portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th ...
. The tops of the dock walls were faced with
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
. Dredged material from the creation of a channel from the entrance to the deep water channel in the Humber was used to infill parts of the made walls in the dock and to embank the foreshore to the east of the dock. The dock was opened on 16 July 1885 and named after Alexandra, Princess of Wales. The cost of the works was £1,355,392. The entrance lock was long and wide. Two
graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
s, one long and wide, the other a little larger, were built at the north-east corner of the dock. The dock's primary purpose was the export of coal. Alexandra Dock In 1899, the dock was expanded by , officially opened on 25 September 1899. The extended area added approximately of quayside and was built to the same depth as the earlier dock, with the dock walls now constructed of concrete. The contractor was Whitaker and Sons of Horsforth, Leeds, under R. Pawley of the H&BR. The extension was originally fitted for the handling of coal and pit props, with four coal hoists. A pier onto the Humber Estuary (West Wharf) was added in 1911, the pier was long with an minimum depth of water at spring tides and was equipped with electric conveyors for the transportation of coal. Alexandra Dock west pier (West Wharf), built 1911, planned site of 'Quay 2005' expansion, and site of expansion of 'Green Port Hull' (planned 2013) Alexandra Dock closed in 1982, at which time the connection to the rail network was removed. In 1991, the dock re-opened but without a rail connection. In the early 1990s, part of the port land was developed as a dredged aggregate marine terminal and plant, operated as Humber Sand and Gravel Co. (est. 1993), a joint venture between
Hanson Hanson or Hansson may refer to: People * Hanson (surname) * Hansson (surname) * Hanson (wrestler), ringname of an American professional wrestler Musical groups * Hanson (band), an American pop rock band * Hanson (UK band), an English rock ...
(formerly ARC) and
CEMEX CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries ...
. a concrete batching plant was built on the dock land in the late 1990s for Ready Mix Concrete Ltd. (later CEMEX UK Materials). In the 1990s, development of a riverside container terminal, Quay 2000, was proposed. The scheme, later named ''Quay 2005'', was to be built at the site of the West Wharf. A public enquiry was required, due to objections from residents of the Victoria Dock Village. The inspector recommended refusal of the scheme, but the decision was over-ruled by the
Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
, and the project gained approved in December 2005. The Associated British Ports (Hull) Harbour Revision Order 2006 allowing the work came into effect in 2006. Construction of the facility, renamed Hull Riverside Container Terminal, was initially planned to be complete by 2008; construction of the terminal was delayed, and the scheme was later adapted to attract an offshore wind power business to the port. (See § Green Port Hull.) As of 2010 the dock handled cargoes including aggregates, bulk agricultural products, bulk chemicals and wood, and also had a Ro-Ro terminal.


Green Port Hull

In January 2011, Siemens and Associated British Ports signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) concerning the construction of wind energy machine manufacturing plant at Alexandra Dock. Infrastructure for the proposed development would also make use of the planned Quay 2005 riverside facilities, which had already gained planning consent, and had an extant environmental mitigation at Chowder Ness. The site was favoured because of its relative proximity to planned large-scale wind farms in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
(
Dogger Bank Dogger Bank (Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age the bank was part of a large landmass ...
,
Hornsea Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull and Hornsea Railway in 18 ...
, and
East Anglia Array The East Anglia Array is a proposed series of offshore wind farms located around 30 miles off the east coast of East Anglia, in the North Sea, England. It has begun with the currently operational East Anglia ONE, that has been developed in partne ...
wind farms), and the presence of existing port infrastructure. The Quay 2005 scheme included reclamation of of land west of the dock entrance, on the banks of the Humber Estuary. In the original scheme the reclaimed area was roughly a right
trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a convex quadrilateral in Eu ...
which projected well over into the Humber, with a south facing front of over ;Roughly approximating to the outline of the 1911 "West Wharf". the instrument also allowed dredging of the quay and approaches of up to below
chart datum A chart datum is the water level surface serving as origin of depths displayed on a nautical chart. A chart datum is generally derived from some tidal phase, in which case it is also known as a tidal datum. Common chart datums are ''lowest astr ...
. The development, Green Port Hull, included the Quay 2005 estuary wharf, repurposed as a facility for wind turbine logistics. It also required the infilling of the dock west of the lock gates with about of material to create additional land for operations. The initial plan included a
nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...
factory of up to , plus office, warehousing, and external storage areas, as well as a helipad and a wind turbine of up to 6 MW. The works were to take up most of the dock area except for land around, and including, dry dock facilities in the north-east corner. Businesses located in the dock were to be relocated, primarily to other sites within the Port of Hull. Initial expectations were for construction to begin in 2012 and the facility to be operational by 2014. The conclusion of the agreement was delayed because of planning issues and uncertainties over the UK's renewable energy policy. Relocation of existing businesses had taken place by 2012. The Siemens and ABP 2011 MOU agreement was finalised in March 2014. ABP investment in the port facilities was estimated at £150 million, and Siemens investment at £160 million across the two sites. The facility was expected to become operational between 2016 and 2017.Sources: * * * Plans for the turbine factory were submitted and approved in 2014. The contract (about £100 million) for dock civil engineering work was awarded to a joint venture of
GRAHAM Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...
and Lagan Construction Group, with
CH2M Hill CH2M, earlier CH2M Hill, was an engineering company that provided consulting, design, construction, and operations services for corporations and governments. The company was organized in Corvallis, Oregon, and headquartered at 9191 South Jamaic ...
as consulting engineers. Official
groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...
took place in January 2015. Revised plans for the site submitted in April 2015 included only a blade manufacturing factory at the site, together with storage and other logistics facilities for wind farm installation work, with no nacelle production.
VolkerFitzpatrick VolkerRail is a specialist railway infrastructure services company based in Doncaster, England, providing services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is wholly owned by Netherlands-based VolkerWessels, a multi-disciplinary construct ...
was awarded the contract to construct the blade factory in July 2015. Clugston Group was contracted to construct an associated service and logistics building in September 2015. As part of the development, the Dead Bod graffiti, painted by Captain Len (Pongo) Rood in the 1960s on one of the West Wharf buildings, which had become a landmark to Humber shipping, was removed and saved for posterity. In early 2017, after restoration, the Dead Bod was temporarily removed to the Humber Street Gallery in Hull as part of the City of Culture 2017 celebrations. The blade factory was formally inaugurated in the presence of Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark on 1 December 2016. The factory scheme has an expected lifespan of around 30 years, after which the site would be returned to general port use. In August 2021, Siemans announced that a £186 million investment would be made in doubling the size of blade factory to handle larger blade sizes in excess of in length. The scheme was expected for completion by 2023.


Hull Joint Dock

The NER began planning for a rival dock east of Alexandra Dock in the 1890s. This led eventually to a joint agreement between the NER and the Hull and Barnsley Railway (HBR), and an Act of Parliament in 1899, the Joint Dock Act. Construction of the dock was delayed until 1906 and was completed in 1914, at which point the new dock became officially known as the King George Dock. An extension arm of the dock to the south-east, sharing the same lock, was opened as the Queen Elizabeth Dock in 1969. In 1993, the dock gained a terminal outside the lock gates, on the banks of the Humber, known as River Terminal 1. It is now known as Rotterdam Terminal, used by North Sea Ferries.


King George Dock (1914–)

By the early 1890s further expansion of the port facilities at Hull were required, in particular dock and handling facilities for large coal carrying vessels, as well as facilities for the new steam trawlers. The NER had been in discussion with the Hull Dock Company regarding investment and working arrangements, this led to a takeover of the Dock Company by the NER. In 1892, the board of the NER had decided that a greater investment of around £1,000,000 in a new dock east of Alexandra Dock would be better spent than expending a smaller sum, of around £22,000, on expanding the entrance to the Dock Company's Albert Dock. It put Bills before Parliament for the amalgamation of the Dock Company, and for a new dock. Both Bills were rejected; the amalgamation Bill was resubmitted in 1893, with clauses protecting the interests of the Hull and Barnsley Railway (HBR), which feared the possibility of a rival dock adjacent to their own Alexandra Dock. As such, the Bill contained clauses requiring the NER to inform the HBR of any planned dock to the east and allow them the option to join as partners in any such development. The North Eastern Railway (Hull Docks) Act was passed, and the amalgamation took place in 1893. The NER submitted Bills for extensive dock improvements in Hull in 1897, and again in 1898 with an expanded improvement scheme, both of which were abandoned over responsibilities regarding dredging the river. The following year the NER submitted a Bill for a new dock east of Alexandra, jointly with the HBR, including new connecting rail lines—this was passed as the ''Hull Joint Dock Act, 1899''. The two companies estimated (1899) the cost of the development at £1,419,555, of which the dock and lock were estimated at £1,194,160; the scheme was expected to take seven years to complete. The act had specified a dock of which was expected to have been completed by 1906. The initial construction was reduced to due to the high cost of the tenders received for the original design. The ''Hull Joint Dock Act, 1906'', made minor modifications to the original scheme, and extended the time for the construction of the dock. Construction of the dock was contracted to S. Pearson & Son in 1906, with an estimated value of £850,000. At the same time, the
Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...
's rival,
Immingham Dock The Port of Immingham, also known as Immingham Dock, is a major port on the east coast of England, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary in the town of Immingham, Lincolnshire. In 2019, the Port of Grimsby & Immingham was the largest ...
, was under construction on the south bank of the Humber. Most of the dock site was beyond the bank of the Humber as it then existed, requiring reclamation of ground from the Humber foreshore. Two temporary banks were constructed, enclosing , plus a timber dam beyond the southernmost bank closing off the soon-to-be-constructed lock. The underlying glacial geology of the Humber, due to underground water pressure, was weak and quicksand strata. By early 1911 the embankments enclosing the new dock area were nearly complete. as were most of the excavations for the dock itself, and the dock's walls. The dock's lock required insertion of steel sheet piles as far as below the bottom of the lock to create a watertight surround for the construction, as a result of water containing gravel in the underlying geology. The dock walls were of concrete, faced and coped with
Staffordshire blue brick Staffordshire blue brick is a strong type of construction brick, originally made in Staffordshire, England. The brick is made from the local red clay, Etruria marl, which when fired at a high temperature in a low-oxygen reducing atmospher ...
s and granite. Some dock walls were built as sloped constructions, with blue gum timber wharfing, due to poor ground conditions preventing satisfactory foundations. As built in 1914, the dock had a water area of and consisted of a central area of around connected to the river by a lock running north-east to south-west. Two main arms to the north-east and north-west were initially constructed, both around long. The western arm had warehousing facilities, while the central and eastern part of the northernmost quay had six coaling berths designed to allow ships to dock diagonally at the dockside. The main lock was itself long divided into two sections of by another set of gates. King George Dock (entrance lock) Water depth in the lock would be between between low water and high spring tides, while the dock itself was to be maintained at a minimum depth of . The design allowed for expansion through two further arms to the south-east and south-west, giving a potential ultimate area of around . Two graving docks were sited at the eastern end of the north-eastern arm of and , each with a water depth of up to . Much of the dock equipment was operated by electricity, supplied at 440V from the Hull Corporation, including electric coal conveyors, cranes, and dock lighting, as well as powering pumps used to supply hydraulic power. Hydraulic equipment (from
Hathorn Davey Hathorn Davey was a British manufacturer of steam engines, based in Leeds. The Sun foundry was established in 1846 and made railway engines and pumping machinery until 1870. The premises were taken over in 1872 by Hugh Campbel, Alfred Davis and J ...
of Leeds) was used for lock and dry dock gates, and for the coal tippers. Cranes were supplied by Royce Limited (Manchester), Craven Brothers, and a floating crane by Werfo Gusto ( A. F. Smulders); coal handling equipment was from
Head Wrightson Head Wrightson was a big heavy industrial firm based at Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It specialised in the manufacture of large industrial products such as fractional distillation columns, which sometimes needed special transpo ...
. The machinery and mechanism for the lock gates were manufactured by the
Hydraulic Engineering Company Hydraulics (from Greek language, Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is th ...
(Chester); the centrifugal pumps and electric motors for draining the dry docks were made by W. H. Allen of Bedford. On 26 June 1914,
King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
visited Hull and formally opened the Hull Joint Dock. The dock was subsequently named King George Dock in his honour. The dock's design was undertaken by Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir
John Wolfe-Barry Sir John Wolfe Barry (7 December 1836 – 22 January 1918), the youngest son of famous architect Sir Charles Barry, was an English civil engineer of the late 19th and early 20th century. His most famous project is Tower Bridge over the River ...
. Its construction was supervised by T. M. Newell and R. Pawley, with W. Ebdon as resident engineer, and T. L. Norfolk as superintendent of equipment construction. Architectural design of the dock's offices was by the NER's architect William Bell. The dock was home, for a period of time, to the NER's
Pals Battalion The Pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted battalions of the British Army comprising men who had enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbour ...
, the 17th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The battalion arrived for training at the dock on the 22nd September 1914. In November 1914, the battalion moved to stations along the East Yorkshire coast, with the headquaters remaining at the docks. On the 20th June 1915, the battalion left the docks for Catterick. A
ferro-concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...
grain silo A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes ...
was under construction in 1914 at the end of the north-western quay and was complete by 1919. The main building consisted of two blocks wide by long, each holding 144 storage bins each square and deep. Each building block was connected to either the north or south quays of the north-west quay via a receiving house with weighing equipment, and by subways under the quayside, extending for . The foundations for the building and the quay subways were constructed by the dock contractors (S. Pearson), the main building was built by the British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Company, and the grain handling equipment supplied by Henry Simon Limited (Manchester). In 1959, the British Transport Commission authorised a £4,750,000 improvement scheme for the dock. The largest part of the scheme (£2,000,000) was the extension of the north quay by the total removal of coal loading equipment, and conversion of the ''echelon'' (diagonal) berthing arrangement on the far north and north-east dock walls into standard straight dockside. Other improvements included replacement of timber quay structures with concrete ones (specifically the south-west arm), over of storage in single-storey sheds, new electric cranes, and additional grain handling equipment, as well as investment in mobile mechanical handling equipment including fork lift trucks and mobile cranes. Also included in the works were expansion of the grain silo capacity and an impounding station designed to maintain the dock water at a high level. In 1965, the creation of berths for use by
roll-on roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
ferries began, increasing use of the dock for unit freight transport.


Queen Elizabeth Dock extension (1969–)

In 1968, work on a extension to King George Dock built on reclaimed land to the south-east of the dock was begun. The extension was officially opened in August 1969 by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
and named Queen Elizabeth Dock. Queen Elizabeth Dock (extension to King George Dock)


Recent history (1970–)

A container terminal was opened in 1971 at Queen Elizabeth Dock. Two roll on-roll off terminals were opened in 1973 and by 1975 there were six such terminals in the two docks. In 1984, Anglia Oils (now AarhusKarlshamn) opened an automated
vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
refinery on the King George Dock estate.
PD Ports PD Ports is a Middlesbrough, UK headquartered port, shipping and logistics company; owner of Teesport, and ports at Hartlepool, Howden and Keadby; with additional operations at the Port of Felixstowe, Port of Immingham, and Port of Hull. Form ...
(originally Humberside Sea and Land Services) began operating the Hull Container Terminal in 1990. By the mid-2000s throughput was over 100,000 TEU per annum, with Samskip as the primary customer. In 1993, River Terminal 1, a terminal for large roll-on roll-off vessels, constructed at a cost of £12 million, opened on the banks of the Humber Estuary south of the King George Dock. River Terminal 1, ro-ro terminal A covered terminal was opened in 1997, initially built for steel handling for
British Steel Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
. It was renamed Hull All-Weather Terminal in 2009, and the facilities were expanded to allow the handling of other weather sensitive goods, including dry bulks, paper, and agribulks (fertiliser). A covered shed for paper products (Finland Terminal), opened in 2000, had expanded to by 2006. In 2001, new facilities were inaugurated on the banks of the Humber. The Rotterdam Terminal (on the site of the 1993 River Terminal 1), was built at a cost of £14.3 million to serve the P&O North Sea Ferries' new ships, the '' Pride of Rotterdam'' and '' Pride of Hull'', used on the Hull-Rotterdam route. The 1919 grain silo was demolished in 2010–11. As of 2010, other facilities at the two docks included a cold store and passenger services to Zeebrugge. The company AarhusKarlshamn operates a large vegetable-based oil products processing plant at the dock, and the Kingston Terminal at the south-east of Queen Elizabeth Dock is used for import of coal products. In 2010, there were ten roll on-roll off berths within the two docks. In 2013, a per year capacity sea to rail biomass facility, with a silo was constructed to supply Drax power station. The facility was officially opened by Councillor Mary Glew,
Lord Mayor of Hull The position of Mayor of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England was established in 1332, being established by Edward III; the first mayor being William de la Pole. 26 June 1914 it was declared that the Chief Magistrate and Officer of the City ...
, in December 2014. A 160 by 390 foot (50 by 120 m) specialised biomass dry bulk warehouse was opened in late 2015.


Other facilities


Dry docks

In addition to the dry docks in King George, Alexandra, and William Wright Docks, there were dry docks on the sides of the River Hull. Hull Central Dry Dock (also known as South End Dock) on the west bank of the River Hull near to its outfall onto the Humber Estuary Hull Central Dry Dock (disused) was the largest, being long with an entrance of , the dock having been extended several times. Built in 1843 and later extended, the dock has been disused since 1992 and is now a Grade II listed structure. In September 2013 the City Council approved plans by Watergate Developments Ltd to turn the dock into an open-air entertainment venue. This is part of an adjacent office space development, known as the Centre for Digital Innovation (C4Di), developed by Wykeland as @TheDock. Construction work on the C4Di building began late 2014. In December 2014, construction began on a concrete dam wall permanently sealing the dock. On the east bank of the River Hull were Crown Dry Dock, Crown Dry Dock, no longer extant, but lock gates remain as frontage onto the River Hull as of 2010 halfway between the river outfall and the entrance to Victoria Dock's Drypool Basin. Farther upstream was Union Dock, , opposite the entrance to Queen's Dock, Union Dry Dock, as of 2010 still extant but completely silted, the entrance to the dock is crossed by steel footbridge along the River Hull east bank footpath dating to the first half of the 1800s, and a third dock farther upstream. Dry Dock, (defunct) On the west bank of the River Hull, there were ship repair facilities just within the city walls at North Gate on the river dating back as far as the 15th century, with slipways by the 18th century. The entrance to Queen's Dock was later built in this area, and two dry docks remain: North Bridge Dry Dock and No. 1 Dry Dock to the north and south of Queen's Dock basin, respectively. North Bridge Dry Dock North Bridge Dry Dock and No. 1 Dry Dock No. 1 Dry Dock were smaller dry docks of around long and with entrances less than wide. Both were extended in the latter part of the 19th century. The northernmost of the two docks is a Grade II listed structure. Additionally, the former Queen's Dock basin was converted to an enclosed dock after the main dock was infilled. Queen's Dock entrance basin, later dry dock


Quays, wharfs and piers

In addition to the Riverside Quay at Albert Dock, the former pier at Alexandra Dock, and the roll-on roll-off river terminal at King George Dock, there are other water side berths at the port, both on the Humber and on the River Hull. The Corporation Jetty (or Old Corporation Pier, also known as Brownlow's Jetty) was between Limekiln Creek and the Humber Dock west pier. Corporation Jetty (or Pier) also known as Brownlow's Jetty. Demolished The construction of the West Dock necessitated the demolition of the old pier. The Hull and Selby Railway (1840) had a wharf at Limekiln Creek, a small north-south running harbour. This was also used by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) which operated a
lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or ...
service from it. Hull and Selby railway, Limekiln Creek warehouse The Creek was stopped up as a result of the building of the West Dock in the 1860s. As a provision of the 1861 act replacement facilities were provided for the railway companies, at a place called Railway Creek. The Railway Creek was constructed as part of the works for the new West Dock (Albert Dock); beginning in 1863, a new harbour was formed east of Limekiln Creek; the Limekiln Creek was kept open until the alternative provision for the NER and MS&LR companies had been made. Following the completion of the works, the small east-west running Railway Creek harbour connected at its east end to the Albert Dock basin. Railway Creek In 1873, the NER had a warehouse built at the site, designed by Thomas Prosser and modified by Benjamin Burley, both NER architects.The Railway Creek was filled in . (Ordnance Survey 1:10000 1970) See also Albert Channel Corporation Pier, constructed in 1810, was parallel to the mainland but not directly connected to it; Old Town (Southern part), section 14.12: 4 "Victoria Pier", p. 19 it was converted to a "T"-shaped pier in 1847. It was used as the terminus of the Hull to New Holland ferry, initially run by the MS&LR and later by the LNER and British Rail, until the service ended in 1981 because of the opening of the Humber Bridge. It was renamed Victoria Pier in 1854.Both names were commonly used Corporation or Victoria Pier A railway booking office latterly named was established here by the MS&LR, and closed on 25 June 1981 with the cessation of the ferry service. The pier has been altered several times. A floating pontoon was added in 1877 and removed in 1980; an upper Promenade was added in 1882, and removed in the mid-20th century. As of 2005, the primary wooden structure is "L"-shaped. To the west of Victoria Pier were the "L"-shaped piers enclosing the Humber Dock basin, The Humber Dock piers were modified from a diagonal arrangement (NE/SW) to a pier square to the dock (N/S) in around 1840.See also Ordnance Survey Town Plans 1:1056 . The West Pier became defunct when the entrance basin of the Albert Dock was partially filled to provide more accommodation for the MS&LR, creating Island Wharf. Island Wharf was separated from the mainland by a channel known as Albert Channel which was filled in in the 1960s. Old Town (Southern part), section 14.11, p. 18 In 2004, construction began on an office development known as Humber Quays on the site. The first building was completed in 2006, a second office building was completed in 2007. The eastern pier was a wooden structure, from the 1920s known as the 'Minerva Pier'; it was replaced by a steel walled pier in the latter part of the 20th century. As of 2010, the remaining piers are still used to harbour vessels, but are not used for cargo handling. The River Hull had extensive staithes, wharfs and warehouses along its length; the Old Harbour could accommodate vessels up to , the river being navigable for vessels up to for . As of 2010, cargo handling has mostly ceased in the Old Harbour. Barges are still used for transportation of vegetable and mineral oils farther upstream within the boundaries of Hull including to J. R. Rix & Sons Ltd, the Croda chemicals vegetable oil chemical processing plant and to the Cargill vegetable oil plant in Stoneferry.


Salt End jetties

At
Salt End Salt End or Saltend is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated on the north bank of the Humber Estuary just outside the Hull eastern boundary on the A1033 road. It forms part of the civi ...
, a jetty (No. 1 Oil Jetty) for the importation of bulk mineral oil was constructed in 1914 by the North Eastern and Hull and Barnsley railway companies, connected to a tank farm at Salt End. The jetty was constructed extending into the Humber, giving a water depth of at low spring tides. Chemical industrial development fed by the oil imports would develop into the chemical site at Salt End, now known as BP Saltend. No. 2 Jetty was constructed in 1928 westward of No. 1, and a reinforced concrete structure, No. 3 Jetty, was built in 1958. The original No. 1 jetty was demolished and replaced with a new structure in 1959. No. 2 jetty was demolished in 1977. As of 2010, both Nos. 1 and 3 jetties remain in use. Salt End jetties (approximate location 2012)


Port welfare

Seafarers arriving at the port are provided with practical and welfare support via the services of a port chaplain.


Disasters, accidents and war damage


Explosion of the PS ''Union''

In 1837 the packet steamer ''Union'' exploded in the Humber Dock basin, resulting in the death of over twenty people including bystanders on the dock side, and many injuries; the vessel itself sank.


R38 airship disaster

In 1921, an R38-class airship broke apart while performing a sharp turn near Victoria Pier. It then exploded, and the flaming wreckage crashed into the Humber near the Victoria Pier, killing 45 of the 49 passengers on board.


Second World War

During the Second World War, the Hull docks were actively targeted. In addition to mines in the Humber, the docks in Hull were bombed. All of them were damaged. The wooden Riverside Quay at Albert Dock was totally destroyed in 1941.


Fires

Major fires destroyed the fish market at St Andrews Dock in 1929, and a general cargo shed at Humber Dock in 1951. In 1970, a vehicle carrying liquefied gas struck the top of a road subway leading to the William Wright and St Andrew's docks, resulting in a gas explosion and fire. The incident caused two deaths and 17 serious injuries.


Acid leak

On 18 September 2017, emergency crews attended a large-scale acid leak which had caused a vapour cloud to form over King George Dock.
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of what was the county of Humberside (1974–1996), but now consists of the unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull ...
warned nearby residents to close doors and windows as a precautionary measure, after a tank containing of
hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid Acid strength is the tendency of an acid, symbol ...
sprang a leak at the dock late in the day. By the early hours of 19 September 2017, firefighters confirmed that wind was blowing the vapour away from houses near the United Molasses site, where the leak occurred and declared the area near the dock safe. However, within 24 hours emergency crews had returned to the site following a change in wind direction. A number of emergency service vehicles, including an ambulance could be seen waiting on standby nearby. The acid was later transferred on to tankers to be taken away safely. Eight people reported feeling unwell as a result of the incident. Four were assessed at the scene and discharged immediately and four were taken to hospital for further assessment. All were ultimately discharged after showing no further symptoms. The Environment Agency confirmed that there appeared to be no leakage into the Humber or any other environmental impact.


See also

;Museums in Hull with exhibits relevant to the port * Arctic Corsair * Hull Maritime Museum * Spurn Lightship *
Streetlife Museum of Transport The Streetlife Museum of Transport is a transport museum located in Kingston upon Hull, England. The roots of the collection date back to the early 20th century, however the purpose-built museum the collection is housed in was opened in 198 ...
*
Lagoon Hull Lagoon Hull is a proposed £1.5 billion development on the Humber Estuary foreshore between Hessle and Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The proposed lagoon would be formed from a stone causeway and will provide ...


Notes


Acts and legislation

*: Creation of the Hull dock company; creation of a dock (later Queen's dock); establishment of a legal quay; other rights and responsibilities. *: Containing clauses relating to the establishment of a ferry boat dock on land near Humber Street. *: Further docks and basin to be named Humber Dock; a third dock between Myton and Beverley gates (later Junction Dock); transfer of the Garrison Ground excluding the Citadel from the Crown to town. **: Amendment of Hull Dock Act of 1802; transfer of part of Garrison Ground from the town of Hull to the Royal Ordnance. *: Raising of additional funds for the construction of the docks mentioned in Hull Dock Act, 1802. *: A fourth dock with timber pond (later Victoria Dock); and a fifth dock (Railway Dock); plus additional setting out of authorities in the port *: Enlargement of the Railway dock *; ; : Clarity as to land purchases; raising of funds; further financial arrangements *: Relating to the Hull Dock Company; ; *: Construction of a sixth dock (later Albert Dock), and alterations and connections to the Hull and Selby Railway line. *: Raising of capital for expansion of Victoria Dock *: Enlargement of the western dock; : further extension of the western dock *: Construction of a railway and dock (Alexandra Dock) *: Acquisition of the Hull Dock company by the NER *; : Construction of a joint dock (later King George Dock) by the NER and H&BR *British Transport Docks (Hull Docks) 1973 (c.xxviii) *Associated British Ports (Hull) 1989 (c.x) *


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * *, illustrative plates at commons.wikimedia.org * * includes detailed history of the events leading to the construction of the Old and Humber docks, as well as statistics of imports and exports * * * * * *, 1835 account of three docks then extant, and related subjects including the Trinity House * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Maps and landmark coordinates


External links

;Modern * ;Historical * * ;Images * * * ** * Historical photographs of docks and shipping {{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of Hull Hull Hull Buildings and structures in Kingston upon Hull Transport in Kingston upon Hull Whaling in the United Kingdom