The A380 Load Out Facilities at Mostyn and Broughton

The Airbus factory at Broughton 15 miles upstream of Mostyn manufactures the wings for the Airbus range of aircraft most of which are exported using purpose-built aircraft to the final assembly facility at Toulouse in France.

The wings for the largest Airbus aircraft, the 850 seat A380 airliner, are however exceptional sized loads, each being almost 50m metres long and 14 metres wide and weighing 36 tonnes. They are too large and heavy for air transport and are therefore exported by sea.

With the Airbus factory situated at Broughton some 15 miles upstream of Mostyn and adjacent to the River Dee, the Port was a natural choice for Airbus as their export port and is now the home of the Airbus Wing Transfer Facility for the A380 aircraft wings. To accommodate this traffic, a dedicated terminal and rivercraft berth has been constructed at the Port.

The Airbus Barge Roll on Roll off Berth

Using the dedicated berth for the airbus barge the "Afon Dyfrdwy", wings for the A380 are transported down the river Dee on a 15 mile journey from the factory at Broughton to the facility at the Port of Mostyn.

There they are stored until they are loaded on to a sea-going Roll-on Roll-off vessel using the Linkspan on the main Ro Ro Terminal. From Mostyn they are taken to Bordeaux from where they are delivered to the final assembly factory at Toulouse.

Airbus Wing Transfer Facility