How British-built cars get to their foreign homes

The whole place can accommodate 92,000: 77,000 at Portbury and 15,000 at Avonmouth and Royal Edward. Such is demand, the company has just purchased the 30-acre farm immediately below the bridge and is planning to turn its fields into more compounds capable of storing 6000 additional cars.

On average, two car carriers arrive at Portbury dock every day, taking advantage of the world’s secondhighest tidal ranges twice every 24 hours. There are five berths at Portbury and the depth is 17.8m. If the ramps leading into the ships are too steep, therefore risking the brand new cars grounding and getting damaged as they enter and exit, sea water can be pumped out of the dock in order to lower the ship and reduce the ramp angle.

Each vessel carries around 4500 cars, of which typically 1200 are brought ashore and around 1000 loaded for export. Helping to make it all possible are 620 BPC employees – a few white collar, the others marine technicians, pilots, lock keepers, crane drivers, dredger workers and, crucially, stevedores.

Around 30 full-time stevedores (or drivers) load and unload each ship, their ranks swelled by contract workers as necessary. There are 65 the day I visit, working two of the three car ships lashed to the dockside.

Cars arrive from all over the world: Toyota Hiluxes from South Africa and Toyota C-HRs from Turkey, Hondas from Mexico, MGs from China, Ssangyongs from Korea, Fiats from Italy, Jeeps from the US…

Most deep-sea exports (the equivalent of airlines’ long-haul) used to be handled by big ports such as Southampton, but Bristol is getting a larger share of the business, partly because of the congestion at traditional ports caused by the UK’s record new car imports and exports. Bristol is often their first European stop. The journey from the Far East takes three weeks but from Mexico and the US, just six days.

Once the cars are landed (only 5% of the imported vehicles are vans and other light commercials), they’re driven to their respective compounds, rented from BPC by the car companies. Toyota alone occupies a 60-acre site. Here they’re given a pre-delivery inspection (PDI) prior to delivery by road, direct to the dealers.

“Our proximity to the M5 is one of our strengths,” says Tony Dent, BPC’s director of automotive trade. “We operate three train services a week, taking less than 1% of the cars.” It’s all go, go, go – but it wasn’t always so. Following the 2008 crash, annual movements sank to 360,000 cars each year. Manufacturers imported sold cars only, leaving many of BPC’s compounds empty.

“We considered warehousing,” says Dent. “Now, just a few years later, we’re handling 600,000 car movements annually and looking for more storage space. It’s all down to PCPs. While money is cheap and sales are strong, manufacturers are exporting everything they can lay their hands on, regardless of whether it’s sold or not. Our challenge is to make sure those cars leave our compounds so there’s enough space for the ones arriving behind them.”