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British Transport Commission: Docks and Inland Waterways Executive

Records of the British Transport Commission: Docks and Inland Waterways Executive: South Wales Docks (East): Civil Engineer's Office 1946-1957, South Wales Docks (West): Civil Engineer's Office 1949-1954,

1835-1975

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These records are available immediately for research

The Docks and Inland Waterways Executive of the British Transport Commission was set up in 1948 following the Transport Act of 1947 which nationalised most of Britain's inland transport. The Docks and Inland Waterways Executive acquired 2,064 miles of waterway as well as the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company, the Aire and Calder fleet, the Calder Carrying Company and Canal Transport Ltd on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It also had powers to acquire other carrying companies and in 1949 it bought Fellows Morton & Clayton. All carrying on nationalised waterways became subject to British Transport Commission licensing. The Docks and Inland Waterways Executive was divided into Headquarters, Inland Waterways, which had six divisions, and Docks, which had four divisions. Headquarters was based in Dorset Square, London and was where the Chairman Sir Reginald Hill, the secretaries, solicitor and chief financial officers were based. The Inland Waterways Divisions consisted of the North Eastern based in Dock Street, Leeds, the North Western based in Navigation Road, Northwich, the South Eastern based in Reservoir Road, Ruislip, the South Western based in the dock office at Gloucester, the Caledonian Canal based in Clachnaharry, Inverness and the Crinan Canal based in Ardrishaig. The Docks divisions consisted of South Wales Docks based in Cardiff, Humber Ports based in Hull, King's Lynn Docks based in King's Lynn and Middlesbrough and Hartlepool Docks based in West Hartlepool. The four main divisions, North Eastern, North Western, South Eastern and South Western each had divisional waterway officers, divisional engineers with district engineers working under them, divisional accountants, divisional traffic officers, estate officers and, where appropriate, dock and harbour masters. The two Scottish canals, which were taken over from the Ministry of Transport, each had an engineer/manager, while the Docks divisions each had a number of managers and engineers. The Docks and Inland Waterways Executive was faced with declining freight income, this despite an increase in traffic on the waterways system as a whole from 10 million tons to 13 million tons by 1953. Although it spent £1.5 million on maintenance arrears and plant and equipment, this was not enough and by 1953 the mileage of waterways open for traffic had fallen from 1,953 to 1,751, with two-thirds of the system working at a loss. In the 1950s there was a dramatic rise in the number of licenses issued for pleasure craft, with over 4,000 issued in 1952. This marked the beginning of the post-war expansion in cruising holidays. The Executive failed to appreciate the importance of this and although it gave advice on routes and the location of boat hiring firms it did not become an operator in its own right. In 1953 a new Transport Act was passed abolishing the executives, the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive was split into British Transport Waterways and British Transport Docks.