Royal Portbury Dock

Royal Portbury Dock
Royal Portbury Dock, looking out to the Severn estuary
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Location
Country	United Kingdom
Location	Bristol, England
Coordinates	51°29′35″N 2°43′12″W / 51.493056°N 2.72°W / 51.493056; -2.72
Details
Opened	1978
Operated by	The Bristol Port Company
Owned by	The Bristol Port Company
Type of harbour	Artificial
No. of berths	7
No. of piers	2
Chairman	Terence Mordaunt
Statistics
Annual cargo tonnage	12m tonnes (2007)
Annual revenue	£63m (2007)
Website http://www.bristolport.co.uk/

The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth Docks are on the opposite side of the Avon, within Avonmouth. The deepwater dock was constructed between 1972 and 1977, and is now a major port for the import of motor vehicles into the UK. The M5 motorway runs nearby, and the huge car storage compounds around the dock are visible from the Avonmouth Bridge. A waste industrial area west of the port is being developed as the Portbury Ashlands Nature Reserve.^[1]

The Royal Portbury Dock has the largest entrance lock into any UK port,^{[citation needed]} accommodating vessels up to 41 m (135 ft) beam, 290 m (951 ft) length and 14.5 m (48 ft)^[2] draft.