Newport Docks is the collective name for a group of docks in the city of Newport, south-east Wales. By the eighteenth century there were a number of wharves on the west shore of the River Usk; iron and coal were the principal outward traffic. The considerable tidal range and muddy banks made the wharves inconvenient, and as trade grew, the Town Dock was opened in 1842. It was extended to the north in 1858, and trade increased further. The Town Dock has been filled in, but the Alexandra Dock system is still in use, although the vast mineral export traffic has long since ended.