Bristol (Avonmouth, England)

Port Avonmouth serves Bristol City, as well as the Unitary Authority (UK local authority) region South West England. Bristol City has population around 460,000 (metro over 1 million), ranking it England's 6th and UK's 8th largest. This is also the most populous city in southern England - after London. The seaport has a namesake in the USA - Bristol RI (Rhode Island).

Port Avonmouth is also one of Bristol's suburbs. The seaport faces two rivers - Avon and Severn (river's estuary). The seaport is of great importance for region's shipping-based economy as it can handle large-sized cargo ships and provides plenty of berths and warehouse storage space. In 2019, the cruise port handled 21 ship calls (10% increase over 2018).

The city borders with South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and also the historic cities Gloucester and Bath (to the northeast and southeast, respectively). Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were created near the confluence of the rivers Avon and Frome. In early-11th-century was founded the settlement (then named Brycgstow, meaning in Old English "the place at the bridge"). Bristol received city rights in 1155 and until 1373 belonged to Gloucestershire, after which became a county. In the period 13th-18th-centuries, Bristol was among the top 3 English cities after London (York and Norwich) in tax receipts. During the Industrial Revolution period (mid-18th-early-19th-centuries) Bristol was surpassed by Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.

Avonmouth (port of Bristol) was a starting point for exploration voyages to the New World. In 1497, out of Bristol left the expedition led by John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto, 1450-1500, Venetian navigator and explorer). The expedition was commissioned by King Henry VII of England (1457-1509). The explorer became the first European (since the Vikings) to land on mainland North America. In 1499, the Bristol merchant William Weston (1445-1505) was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. Since then, Port Bristol has moved from Bristol Harbour (in downtown) to Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock.

In 2018, Port Bristol had a scheduled homeporting season for its ever-largest cruise ship - CMV Magellan (Cruise and Maritime Voyages). The ship has max passenger capacity 1452 and offered Bristol roundtrip itineraries to ports in the Mediterranean and Baltic (Norwegian Fjords, Scandinavia and Russia / St Petersburg).

In June 2019 was completed the GBP 9 million container terminal upgrade designed to further increase port's capacity and productivity due to growing container shipping traffic and related services offered at port's two container terminals/docks - Avonmouth and Portbury. Portbury Dock handles larger boxships, while Avonmouth Dock serves smaller-sized TEU carriers. The largest companies serving Port Bristol are MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company SA), DFDS Suardiaz Line Ltd (subsidiary of Suardiaz Group) and Containerships plc (both with weekly crossings to/from Bilbao Spain), Grimaldi Lines (weekly connections with Sweden, Denmark, Mediterranean) and Cronus Logistics (3 weekly Irish Sea crossings to Northern Ireland).

Bristol cruise terminal