The shipping platform

Location: Swansea is located near the seaward end of the Bristol Channel on the S Wales coast. General overview: In addition to general cargo, Swansea handles dry bulks such as coal, cement and sea dredged aggregate at Kings Dock, together with container traffic and regular cargoes of steel, tinplate and aluminium. Passenger and Ro-Ro facilities are available at the ferry terminal in the River Tawe. Swansea Port has recently seen the closure of Queens Dock and Prince of Wales Dock. Traffic figures: Approx 503 vessels visit the port and 400,000t of cargo handled annually. Load line zone: North Atlantic Winter Seasonal Zone II, Winter Nov 1 to Mar 31, Summer Apr 1 to Oct 31. Max size: LOA 200m, beam 26.8m, draught 9.9m, 30,000DWT. Kings Lock: Length 266m, width 27.4m, depth over the sill 12.4m MHWS. Largest vessel handled: "Paualos" 36,500DWT, tanker, draught 9.8m.