Industry & Commerce
Although still a port, Barry is more important now as a manufacturing town and as a service centre for the Vale of Glamorgan. Barry Docks and the adjoining industrial area (including the Atlantic Trading Estate) form the largest employment centre in the town.
The docks, whose road links were dramatically improved with the opening of the Docks Link Road in 1981, now have direct road access with the M4 motorway.  The docks can handle vessels up to 23,000 tons and the first-class tidal position close to the deep-water channel of the Severn Estuary, allows for regular scheduled sailings.  With its extensive transit sheds, warehouses and open storage, the docks are well equipped to handle hulk cargoes for which the batteries of high capacity grab cranes are invaluable.  Two roll on/roll off berths are available and have been extensively used by routes to Eire and West Africa.  These and the other port facilities have seen an increasing variety of traffic in recent years.
The great majority of industrial firms are located in the dock area. By far the largest are the chemical producing concerns such as Cabot Carbon and Dow Corning who have just completed the development of the largest silicones plant in Europe.
Other main employers in Barry Docks are Western Welding and Engineering, Jewson (Builders' Merchants). Rank Hovis and, of course. Associated British Ports who, since 1982 have run the docks as successors of the British Transport Docks Board.
The area to the North of No. I Dock was the home of Woodharn's Scrap Yard, famous throughout Britain as the "Graveyard of Steam", a rare attraction for steam railway enthusiasts and preservationists. No locomotives now remain however, those escaping the scrap merchant having been sold to preservation societies throughout the country.
Adjacent to the docks is Atlantic Trading Estate whose 87 acres was a former military depot, but is being developed by the local authority to provide sites her new industry. An appreciable number of firms now occupy premises here.
On the north side of the Cardiff Road is the Ty Verlon Industrial Estate, which is mostly owned by the Welsh development Agency. Developments on the site include warehouses and factories such as Lion Laboratories.
Nearby, the Palmerston Trading Estate provides accommodation for a range of businesses on a former factory site, and in some new starter workshops provided by the Vale of Glamorgan Council with financial assistance from the Welsh Office through the Government's Urban Programme.
Despite the decline in its former dock trading, Barry still has, as we have seen, a surprising variety of industrial and commercial activity within its area. It has, too, the advantage of the port with first class facilities and it has land available for new industries or for the expansion of existing ones. The town's good road and rail links and its nearness to a regional airport are other important inducements to future industrialists.
The much awaited regeneration programme known as "The Waterfront" is well under way at the Barry Docks. The project, which is a joint initiative between Associated British Ports and the Welsh Development Agency, is creating 1.000 new homes catering for all elements of the market, an estimated 2.000 jobs, new retail developments, businesses, sports and leisure facilities and a new road system taking traffic away from busy residential streets. With the first development plots already nearing completion, from start to finish the project is expected to take between 1 0 and 1 5 years.
Substantial WDA financial assistance has been earmarked for this exciting new project, which is transforming Barry. The Waterfront Development will provide the key to the growing prosperity of the town, offering a first class location for new investment in Barry.