Newport, Wales and was the largest masonry dock in the world. Although coal exports from Newport were by now modest compared to the Port of Cardiff (which included Cardiff, Penarth and Barry), Newport was the place where the Miners' Federation of Great Britain was founded in 1889, and international trade was sufficiently large for 8 consuls and 14 vice-consuls to be based in the town. In 1898 Lysaght's Orb Works opened and by 1901 employed 3,000 staff. Urban expansion took in Pillgwenlly and Lliswerry to the south; this eventually necessitated a new crossing of the River Usk, which was provided by the
Coal industry in Wales export of coal and iron from South Wales. By 1840, the network of canals and railways enabled 4.5 million tons of coal to be mined and transported. Of this, about half was used by the steel industry, about 750,000 tons went for export and the rest was used for other industrial and domestic use. By 1854, coal production had nearly doubled, and 2.5 million tons was being exported. In North Wales, the Flintshire manors of Ewloe, Hopedale, and Mostyn and the Denbighshire manor of Brymbo were reported to be making profits from trading coal during the 14th and 15th centuries.