London Docklands - The Problems - The Docks in the Twentieth

7. The Docks in the Twentieth Century

By the end of the nineteenth century the private dock companies were in serious trouble.

Competition between the companies had always been fierce, but in the twenty years before 1900 it had become a cut-throat affair as the companies desperately tried to attract shipping into their docks.

The Tilbury Docks had opened in 1886, yet two years later its owners, the East and West India Dock Company, were bankrupt. The other dock companies were not much better off.

There were also mounting complaints about the river and the port coming from shipping companies and other users. So in 1900 a Royal Commission was set up to look into the operation of the Port of London.

The Royal Commission heard evidence from the various users and groups interested in the port. Once they had established what the main problems were, their job was to make recommendations about how these could be overcome and how the port should develop in the future.

Below is a summary of the problems facing the Port of London at the turn of the century.

The Problems

The Commission would have considered points like these, although they would not have been put to them in this fashion.

Competition between the dock companies and the wharfingers (wharf owners) was as cut-throat as it was between the dock companies themselves. The wharfingers were in a position to undercut the rates charged in the docks.

Competition between the dock companies had got out of hand and proved ruinous.

Tilbury had been opened by the East and West India Dock Company to lure large ships away from the Royal Docks owned by the London and St Katharine Dock Company.

But after four months Tilbury remained almost empty. So, to attract ships, it cut its rates so much that it was running at a loss.

The rates in the Royals went down to compete with Tilbury's so that they also were making hardly any money.

The 'free-water clause' (Chapter 4), was hurting the dock companies. It has been estimated that less than 20% of goods unloaded in the docks were going on to the quayside and paying charges to the dock companies. Most of the goods went into lighters and were transferred to the wharves or directly to customers.

The size of ships had increased enormously by the end of the nineteenth century. The main river channel was not deep-enough and large ships had great difficulty in moving in the river. The large number of different authorities and dock companies made it difficult to get the necessary improvements done.

London was losing trade to other ports which had lower warehousing charges and faster handling times. These ports not only included places like Liverpool but also European ports such as Hamburg, Antwerp and Rotterdam whose business was increasing at a much faster rate than London's.

By the turn of the century steamships had largely replaced sailing ships. To run efficiently, steamships had to get in and out of the port quickly.

The shipping companies complained bitterly about delays in turn-round. They complained about the lack of facilities in the docks, difficulties of getting ships into the docks and unloading them and poor rail communications.

The large numbers of lighters in use in the port added greatly to the congestion in the river. It was also a very slow way of moving goods around and held up deliveries.