The Bristol Port Company has borrowed £100 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland to fund future growth.

The bank put together the financial package for First Corporate Shipping, otherwise known as The Bristol Port Company.

But the cash is not part of the port's £200m scheme to build a deep-sea container depot by 2012.

The firm, which has 525 staff, owns and operates the docks at Royal Portbury and Avonmouth near Bristol, purchased from the city council in 1991.

Richard Harvey, finance director at First Corporate Shipping, said: "We are very pleased that we have been able to arrange new finance with RBS, which will ensure that sufficient funds are available for the company's ongoing operations.

"We are waiting for government approval for the new port in the autumn, which is not connected to the £100m deal struck with RBS."

Mr Harvey added that the port had seen some reduction in trade over the last year as a result of the general economic downturn, particularly in cars.

The port mainly imports vehicles from the Far East, India and Spain, but the recession has meant imported car numbers are down by an estimated 20 per cent.

The planned new "super-port" will be built on 40.5 hectares (100 acres) of reclaimed land alongside Avonmouth Docks, helping Bristol regain its position as one of the country's top ports.

The Port of Bristol, Avonmouth and Portbury docks are already capable of handling large container ships of up to 300m (984ft) long but these will be dwarfed by a new generation of super ships. The new container vessels, still to be built, will be up to 380m (1,247ft) in length, the equivalent of almost four football pitches.

These new container ships will operate further below the waterline at 16m (52ft) under the surface or "draught" compared with the 14.5m (47.5ft) draught current port capacity.

Port bosses say that if it is to remain competitive it needs to be able to handle this large shipping and needs to build a deep-water terminal.

That is why it has drawn up proposals to convert a former oil terminal and reclaim tidal mud flats to create a new 40.5-hectare (100-acre) container terminal in the Severn Estuary.

Construction will involve building a new quay wall and dredging of its seaward side. A 16-mile navigation channel will also be dredged to the main estuary channel.