The Port of Tilbury – London’s major port – welcomed Stephen Metcalfe MP for a port tour by boat on Friday 13 July (photographs attached).

The tour was led by port Directors, Paul Dale and Peter Ward, and covered Tilbury’s substantial business and employment growth, skills development and the need for improved road connectivity. Tilbury is the fastest growing UK port and is set to double its direct employment and business across the quay in the next 10 years. Forth Ports is calling for a direct connection from the expanding port area onto the proposed Lower Thames Crossing.

Peter Ward, Commercial Director, welcomed Stephen’s visit: “The Port of Tilbury’s 130 businesses need room to expand to fuel the UK’s economic growth. This visit was a great chance to showcase our development plans at Tilbury2 and discuss the challenges ahead.”

Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, Apprenticeship Ambassador and Government Envoy for the 2018 Year of Engineering, said: “Tilbury has ambitious plans to grow, which are matched by their commitment to training and development. Their dedicated training academy is a beacon of best practice for the logistics industry and I’m heartened they’re playing an active part in the ‘Year of Engineering’ campaign to promote the varied careers inside the port.”

Ahead of the Engineering Showcase in Basildon on Saturday 14 July where the Port had a stand to promote local career opportunities, Paul Dale, Asset and Site Director, commented: “Tilbury invests heavily in the development of its workforce and promotes career opportunities locally to ensure that our future jobs growth benefits south Essex. In 2017-18, we supported 51 apprentices across the port, from business administration and management, to operations and engineering.”

17 July 2018 -ends-

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PRESS RELEASE

Port of Tilbury hosts community Open Day on 21 July 2018

Following the success of the community celebrations last month to mark the 70th anniversary of the Empire Windrush arrival into the Port of Tilbury, the port will once again open its doors for a community Open Day on Saturday 21 July.

Held every two years, the free programme of events will run throughout the day and begin with the Tilbury Docker Procession at 10.30am leaving Tilbury Town Square on a walk to the London Cruise Terminal. The procession with the 16ft Docker puppet, dancers and music will have a carnival feel and a fitting start to the day.

Innovative arts company Teatro Container from the port town of Valparaiso in Chile will be setting up a pop up kitchen container at the Cruise Terminal where people can share heritage stories and traditions based around food.

Events on the day will appeal to all ages and include:
– Vintage bus tours of port;
– Historical tours of the cruise terminal;
– Port of Tilbury Police;
– Grade 2 listed railway station open;
– Green room café and heritage displays
[NB: event flyer attached with this release for more info]

Paul Dale, Asset and Site Director from The Port of Tilbury said: “We always enjoy hosting community events at the port and at this bi-annual Open Day we get the chance to let people inside the port for them to see what goes on behind the gates! There are a lot of activities planned for the 21 July starting with the carnival style procession of the Tilbury Docker and I hope that everyone is able to come along and enjoy the day with us.”

9 July 2018
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Media enquiries only: Debbie Johnston – debbie@sprengthomson.com / 0141 548 5191
Event enquiries: Lucy-Emma Harris – lucy@tott.org.uk

Cefetra plans Scottish expansion with Forth Ports

Following an extensive review and consultation with its customers, leading agricultural specialist Cefetra Ltd has today announced the signing of a long- term contract with Forth Ports Ltd to use the Port of Rosyth.

Rosyth’s location and logistical links to the motorway network, make it ideally suited to supply all areas of Scotland and Northern England. In addition, Rosyth, being near to continental Europe, has advantages in short sea freight.

Under the agreement Forth Ports will develop the Port of Rosyth to provide Cefetra with an unparalleled, purpose-built facility. This will become the main Agri-hub in Scotland, handling an extensive range of agricultural products.

The Port of Rosyth will be deepened to provide a true deep-water port capable of taking vessels carrying up to 50,000 tonnes of cargo. The existing storage facilities will be enhanced with the addition of a new, extensive, purpose built agricultural products terminal, increasing the storage capacity to circa 100k tonnes.

Andrew Mackay, Managing Director at Cefetra Ltd, said: “We are pleased to have been able to reach this agreement with Forth Ports and believe that the new Rosyth Agri- hub will enable us to continue to serve our valued customers. We expect to increase the efficiency of our supply chains, taking advantage of scale and location, to bring additional benefits to our customers and to Scottish agriculture. Our expectation is to develop an annual throughput in excess of 500,000 tonnes of agricultural products, worth more than £100 million.”

Charles Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of Forth Ports Limited commented, “It’s great to have reached an agreement with Cefetra that will see us execute on another significant investment programme for a customer; reflecting our strategy of working with our customers to deliver supply chain solutions.

The development at the Port of Rosyth reflects the port’s unrivalled logistics links as well as its excellent marine capability.

We very much look forward to working with Cefetra, a long-standing Group customer to deliver this significant development, building on our overall activity within Scotland’s agricultural sector”.

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Notes to editors:

Cefetra Ltd (a Baywa Company) is the largest agricultural trading company in Scotland with an annual turnover in excess of £800 million. The business, headquartered in Glasgow Scotland, is active throughout the UK and Ireland, trading over 4 million tonnes annually. It dispatches between 75,000/ 85,000 tonnes of raw materials to industry partners every week and delivers 500/ 550 lorry loads per day.

For further information visit: www.cefetra.co.uk

• Forth Ports Limited owns and operates eight commercial ports in the UK – Tilbury on the Thames, Dundee on the Firth of Tay and six on the Firth of Forth – Leith, Grangemouth, Rosyth, Methil, Burntisland and Kirkcaldy.
• Within and around the Firths of Forth and Tay, Forth Ports manages and operates an area of 280 square miles of navigable waters, including two specialised marine terminals for oil and gas export and provides other marine services, such as towage and conservancy.
• forthports.co.uk @forthports

For media enquiries please contact:

Cameron Grant
3×1 Group
0141 221 0707 / 07771 960326
jacgrant@3×1.com

Port Of London cruise contract goes to Port of Tilbury and MBNA Thames ClippersThe Port of London Authority (PLA) has awarded the five-year contract for management of its Central London Cruise Moorings to a joint venture between the Port of Tilbury and MBNA Thames Clippers.

The five-year deal will see the joint venture taking over responsibility for the smooth day-to-day operations of three moorings – Greenwich Ship Tier, Tower Bridge Upper and George’s Stair Tier – on behalf of the PLA. Last year the moorings attracted more than 20 calls from cruise ships including Viking Sea and Silver Cloud.

The joint venture brings together capabilities including 17 boats servicing over 4.1 million commuters, domestic visitors and international tourists exploring London as well as experience managing over 100,000 passengers a year through servicing cruise ship calls at Tilbury and at ports in Scotland. The partners’ responsibilities under the contract will include ensuring management of the moorings complies with all national and international regulations, appointing and training port security officers, marketing and promoting London’s cruise facilities to potential customers, and liaising with the PLA harbour master and ships’ agents where necessary around ship calls.

“Our London cruise moorings offer passengers a rare opportunity to get right to the heart of a world city, close to UNESCO World Heritage sites, at both the Tower of London and Maritime Greenwich,” said PLA chief financial officer, Julie Tankard. “The Port of Tilbury and MBNA Thames Clippers won the contract after a close competition. We’re excited to see how their proposals enhance the experience of cruise ship passengers visiting London.”
MBNA Thames Clippers and the Port of Tilbury’s cruise business, Capital Cruising, plan to invest in all aspects of the operation to deliver a world-class service for cruise ships and passengers visiting London. Under the new agreement, which comes into immediate effect, MBNA Thames Clippers will handle all marine elements and transfers and Capital Cruising will look after the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) security elements and passenger/baggage handling.

Steve Lyons, head of cruise for Capital Cruising at the Port of Tilbury, said: “This is an exciting time for our cruise business. Over the last decade we’ve transformed the Thames offer for larger cruise ships at London International Cruise Terminal at Tilbury, which is now the home port for Cruise & Maritime Voyages. This new agreement with the PLA allows us to bring the marketing of all London’s cruise facilities under one umbrella and to apply our cruise ship management experience to the unique facilities in
central London. Viking Sun will be the first cruise ship of the 2018 central London season, when she makes her maiden call in the capital this Friday, 4 May.”

Sean Collins, founder and CEO of MBNA Thames Clippers, commented: “London is a hugely attractive tourist destination. It makes perfect sense that the Thames – one of its most-loved features – should play a central role in the visitor story.

Obvious ly the river has particular navigational constraints which present complexities for larger vessels, but the capital has the potential of significantly increasing cruise business. It is our intention to harmonise and improve the customer experience to ensure London has the cruise facilities such a world-class city deserves.”

Collins said the new contract would allow MBNA Thames Clippers to maximise exposure for its river bus services – giving cruise passengers the chance to explore the city’s major attractions via existing routes.

Greenwich Ship Tier is the largest facility and is central London’s deep water mooring. It is able to accommodate vessels up to 228 metres in length (draft 8.1 metres). Situated five miles downstream from Tower Bridge, it is close by the Old Royal Naval College and in sight of the Cutty Sark. Vessels moored here are serviced through the world’s first floating cruise terminal, the PLA’s Welcome.
Tower Bridge Upper mooring caters for smaller, specialist vessels up to 158 metres in length (draft 6 metres). Situated 300 metres from Tower Bridge, it shares the moorings with historic warship attraction HMS Belfast.
George’s Stair Tier is situated 1.5 cables downstream from Tower Bridge. It can cater for vessels up to 120 metres in length (draft 2 metres), making it perfect for super yachts.
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PRESS RELEASE
1 May 2018

Port of Tilbury celebrates employee success at annual training and development awards

The Port of Tilbury hosted its annual awards event on board the Cruise and Maritime ship the Magellan. The cruise ship, which is a regular caller at the cruise terminal, was the perfect venue to celebrate and acknowledge the hard work that many of the port employees have undertaken during the past year.

The commitment that training and development requires from an individual, who has a day job too, can take personal and family time and these awards recognise this dedication and achievement. Over 652 courses have been delivered in the past year with 2327 people taking part. With over 100 apprentices successfully completed or currently undertaking training at the Port of Tilbury Logistics Academy, the port has much to celebrate in the creation of the skilled workforce of the future.

Work experience and careers support within the Port has also been part of the commitment made by the team at the Logistics Academy – with a very strong focus on working on initiative in support of our local schools and colleges.

Forth Port’s investment into training and development and connections within its communities is part of ensuring that the ports and logistics sectors have a prosperous and successful future.

Commenting on the awards event, Paul Dale, Asset and Site Director at the Port of Tilbury said: “Our congratulations to everyone at the awards ceremony. This is a fantastic result and the training model delivered through our Logistics Training Academy in Tilbury is to be celebrated. The year has resulted in so many people achieving qualifications across a broad skill set covering warehousing, plant operations, Police training, RTITB, ILM, National Diplomas, leadership and management and apprenticeships.

And it’s not just at Tilbury, we are pleased that this training model is now being mirrored in the building of a new training academy at the Port of Grangemouth. My thanks to the Cruise and Maritime team for their great hospitality on board the Magellan.”

1 May 2018
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