The one outstanding feature of the commercial economy of Great Britain during the second half of the C19th. was the uninterrupted development of South Wales as the greatest steam coal-exporting centre in the country. The 1919 Royal Commission on the Coal Industry came to the conclusion that the

The South Wales coalfield was situated to the best possible advantage for foreign trade because it was within easy reach of the sea. The distance from colliery to port was short: from the Fernhill Collieries at the extreme of the Rhondda Fawr to the West Dock, Cardiff is 25 miles and from Maerdy at the extreme end of the Rhondda Fach it is 22 miles. These compare with the average length of haul of 50 miles in Belgium, 35 to 70 miles in France, 100 tom 1250 in the Ruhr, 400 miles in Upper Polish Silesia and 350 and 400 miles in the case of New River and Pocahontas coalfields of America. Expressed statistically, the cost of rail haul in 1900 from the Rhondda Valley collieries to Cardiff via the Taff Vale Railway was 0.575d per mile compared to 1.0d per mile from the Pocahontas coalfields to the seaboard. Also South Wales, the Taff Vale Railway and Barry Railways, in their routes to the ports had the gradient in their favour.

In the first half of the C19th. The steam coals of the Aberdare Valley were the first to compete with Newcastle coals and later to oust them from the open markets, both British and foreign. After 1860, it was the steam coals of the Rhondda Valleys which were sent in ever-increasing quantities to all continents, so that by 1914, Cardiff and Barry became the greatest coal-exporting ports in the world as the following table shows: -

When in 1809 Walter Coffin opened the Dinas Level – the first specifically ‘sale-coal’ colliery in the Glamorgan Uplands – the chief coal port of south Wales was not Cardiff nor Swansea but Newport.

The rapid development of Newport at the beginning of the C19th. is explained largely by one factor: the privilege, which its coal enjoyed of being free from duty when, carried east of Holme Island. The first two Rhondda coal owners argued bitterly against the unfairness of this fact which favoured the Monmouthshire mines. It was not until 1831 that the duty was repealed.

By 1833 Cardiff was placing increasing pressure on the port of Newport. Throughout the 1820’s and 1830’s Coffin worked extremely hard to bring Rhondda coal and coke to the notice of consumer not only in South Wales and the West of England but in Ireland as well. By the end of the 1830’s Coffin’s coal had acquired the title’ celebrated’ and he set up an agency in Cardiff, opened up a wharf near the sea lock and started purchasing several vessels.

Despite the efforts of Coffin and George Insole, the other major Rhondda coal owner at the time, in 1850 it has been estimated that of the total shipment of 708,582 tones of coal, no less that 500,000 tons came from the Aberdare Valley. In December 1855, steam coal was exported from the Rhondda Valleys to Cardiff for the first time. In 1913, the record production of 56,830,072 tons of coal was reached and about 73% of this was exported. In the same year a maximum production of 9,610,705 tons was reached in the Rhondda Valleys. As the bulk of this was for export it can be safely estimated that almost one-third of the coal exported from Cardiff, Penarth and Barry in 1913 originated in the 1913.

The causes for this spectacular growth in the export of Rhondda Valleys steam coal can be explained by three factors: the demand from the newly industrialised countries of Europe, Egypt and South America; the revolution in sea transport whereby sail was almost completely replaced by steam; and the new importance which coal exports acquired in the national economy of Britain after the substitution of a policy of laissez-faire for that of protection.

In the years 1850 to 1870,Western Europe was supplied with a fairly complete railway system. For example, in 1850 Spain had 20 miles of railway which by 1870 had increased to 3,500 miles. As the result of similar expansion, the demand for Rhondda steam coal from France, Spain and Italy greatly increased as the sales books of the Ocean Coal Co. Ltd and Insole & Son show. Towards the end of the century Cory Bros. Was sending considerable amounts of coal from Pentre to the Egyptian Government, whilst the railways of Brazil and the Argentine Republic provided a substantial market for many Rhondda firms, especially the Glamorgan Coal Co. Ltd., Llwynypia. At the same time valuable orders for Ferndale coal came from the Indian Railways and for Lewis Merthyr coal from the railways of the Cape South Africa.

However, it was unquestionably the insatiable demand for Rhondda steam coal for bunker purposes which was the dominant factor in the growth of the Rhondda’s markets in the second half of the C19th. Indeed, in m any respects, the extremely rapid industrial development of these valleys was a reflex of the victory of steam at sea in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The revolution in shipping caused by the change from sail to steam is well shown in the following table: -

By the 1870’s, the steamship, which had been a novelty in the 1840’s, ruled the seas and, as a result, the demand for steam coal increased dramatically. The first Welsh steam coal used by both the British Admiralty and the merchant marine was the ‘dry steam coal’ of the Aberdare Valley.

But in 1864, at the instance of some Members of Parliament from the North East of England, it was determined that the Admiralty should use a mixture of two-thirds Welsh and one-third Newcastle coals, as this gave superior results. This was not always possible to achieve, especially in foreign ports. As a result, in 1872 the Admiralty decided to use Welsh steam coal exclusively.

As a result, between 1870 and 1880 most of the bituminous and steam coals of the Rhondda Valleys were subjected to the more vigorous testing by the Royal Navy. Rhondda bituminous coal was found to be of such excellent quality that after 1876, ‘Ynysfeio Merthyr [i.e. No.3 Rhondda] was the standard coal of this variety used by the Admiralty for comparative purposes.

An enormous demand developed for Rhondda steam coal in the period 1880 – 1914, not only from the British Admiralty and the governments of France, Italy, Holland, Germany and other countries, but also from the principal steamship companies of the world. In fact, it has been estimated that without Rhondda steam coal, the German High Seas fleet of 1914 – 18 would never have been able to leave port.

In 1914, the following Rhondda firms were on the Admiralty List for the supply of steam coal to the Royal Navy: -

In other words, of the 28 South Wales firms supplying coal to the Royal Navy in 1914, exactly half was situated in the Rhondda Valleys.

In the field of the Merchant Marine Cymmer coal from collieries owned by Insoles were in constant demand by the Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company, the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, the White Star Line, Messageries de France and Austrian Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. The following steamship companies were supplied by the Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries Co. Ltd; Cunard, White Star, Pacific and Oriental, Union Castle, Hansa, Anchor, Adria, Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation and Generale Transatlantique.

Increased prestige was obtained by the part which Rhondda steam coal played in the winning of the Blue Ribbon by the Mauritania powered by Ocean steam coal and the fastest passage from Bristol to Quebec by the Royal Edward, powered by Ferndale steam coal.