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This dock, opened by George, Prince of Wales and Duke of Rothesay, was completed in 1907. It is located in Clydebank, on the north bank of the River Clyde. It was built for the Clyde Navigation Trust and was built for the coal and iron and steel industries. It was built at the East Barns of Clyde.

The dock was built at Clydebank to reduce congestion at General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour and the busy upper reaches of the navigable river.

With local sources of iron ore worked out, ore was increasingly imported for the Lanarkshire steelworks, which had been one of the factors behind the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway to Ardrossan.

William Baird and Company, of the Gartsherrie Iron works had purchased mines at Santander, North Spain and the Monte de Hierro mineral field in south Spain.

The north side of the dock had two, then quickly afterwards four, coal hoists for coal export. The south side was equipped with cranes. Dockside equipment, cranes, capstans etc, was electrically operated. Iron ore unloading was by transporters on the south quay built by Babcock & Wilcox in Renfrew. After many mechanical breakdowns these were replaced with conventional cranes in 1919.

The dock had its outer basin at the west end. The west side of the basin had a cement works. The east end inner basin quaysides were served by the joint Rothesay Dock Branch (North British Railway and Caledonian Railway). The dock was approached from Clydebank Dock East Junction (Clydebank Dock was the original name before official opening) on the North British Railway system and from Scotstoun West Junction on the Caledonian Railway system. The line passed directly below Yoker Ferry on its approach to the dock.

The hoists were served by a large marshalling yard to the east, the southern quayside by a smaller yard to its south. The east end of these yards was crossed by Green Road and a well known long lattice footbridge crossed the lines. Yoker Green Road Signal Box, at Green Road Junction, was located here.

So large was the concern that it had its own power station on the northern quayside.

The opening of the new bulk iron ore berths at General Terminus (for the new Ravenscraig Steel Works) in 1959 led to the end of iron importing on the south quay at Rothesay Dock. It was re-equipped for coal imports. Coal export, on the north quay, also began to drop off. In 1959 nos 1 and 2 coal hosts were demolished. No 3 closed in 1964. No 4 remained in use.

Strip coil was later imported via the dock for Gartcosh Steelworks and coal was imported, a reversal of the original situation. The north quay was used to build modules for oil rigs.

The approach from Scotstoun West Junction fell out of use in 1980. By this time it was no longer used as an approach, the yard was simply used as a method of accessing the remaining goods only portions of the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway.

Coal import (for the Ravenscraig Steel Works finished with the opening of the Hunterston Ore Terminal in 1980. (General Terminus also closed.) The sidings and connection at Clydebank Dock East Junction fell out of use, allowing the yard there to be redeveloped as Yoker Depot in 1987-9. Space was left for a possible approach for the dock, which was not laid at first.

Track was relaid in 1988 for what turned out to be a very brief period of coal import for Kincardine Power Station (and apparently some later ran, or were planned to run, to Longannet Power Station or Cockenzie Power Station). It was said afterwards that this imported coal was to break an arrangement between the SSEB and British Coal, to show that coal could be sourced more cheaply from elsewhere, and that the railway been misled it would be a long term flow. Trains leaving the dock ran west to Dumbarton to run round, probably to then use the route via Cowlairs North Junction. Afterwards the line was abandoned again and after a long period of dereliction has been lifted.

An oil depot operates from the north quay and a marina is at the east end of the dock.

To the north west was the Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Works and to the south east the Yoker Power Station.

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Clyde Boatyard

Nustar Energy

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