London’s leading provider of river, road and rail freight solutions, Walsh, has signed a 20-year agreement with the Port of Tilbury to help to meet the capital’s demand for construction materials in the most sustainable way.

The deal enables Walsh to create two new freight hubs at the port – the first will be a logistics terminal with aggregates processing plant and the second will be a rail-linked freight facility. Transporting aggregates by river and rail significantly reduces road miles and traffic congestion and represents a fraction of the carbon emissions of road haulage.

Walsh will bring 400,000 tonnes of secondary aggregate into Tilbury by sea and river each year from china clay producer Imerys in Cornwall. This material – known as Cornish Granite – is a by-product of the china clay industry and is rated as one of the most sustainable aggregates available in the UK. Combined with transportation by marine freight, stent achieves a greener supply chain for built development in London and the South East.

Walsh and the Port of Tilbury have worked together for decades and share a goal to create more sustainable supply chain solutions for customers, particularly in the construction industry, by using the River Thames and expansion of rail freight. Both businesses are investing significantly in these two new operations at the port.

Walsh will move into 34 Berth at the port in March 2021 and will install a new multimillion pound processing plant to wash and grade the aggregate for supply to their customers across the South East. Products include rock armour stone, type 1 sub-base, single sized granite, coarse sand, fine mortar sand and 6F5 recycled aggregate.

Peter Ward, Commercial Director at The Port of Tilbury said: “Walsh are an important and long-standing customer and we are very pleased to be working with them on this strategic expansion and investment in their business. The Port of Tilbury has unrivalled multimodal transport connections and businesses located at the port which together create a Construction Hub that benefits everyone. This is a strong start to the year as we get underway with the economic recovery following the pandemic and Brexit impacts. This not only supports the UK Government’s ‘Build Back Better’ recovery strategy but also creates greener supply chains using water-borne and rail transport.”

Joe Gifford, Managing Director of WALSH said: “We’re delighted with this deal which further extends our river, rail and road network across the South East. It also puts Walsh in a unique position to meet London’s need for construction materials in the most sustainable way possible. With aggregate recycling at its maximum in the capital – a success story we’re also proud to be part of – our new partnership with the Port of Tilbury means we can bring in Cornish Granite that would otherwise be discarded and turn it into high-quality products to support London’s development and regeneration.”

Mark Faraway, Senior Commercial Manager from The Port of Tilbury said: “Our rapidly expanding bulks business at the Port of Tilbury provides the vital elements to ensure an efficient and greener supply chain for our customers. We have long relationship with Walsh and we are happy that we can continue this for the next two decades.”

27 January 2021                            -ends-

The Port of Tilbury and FM Conway today announce that they have extended their agreement for a further five years to load aggregate for FM Conway’s Theale facility.

FM Conway is the largest independent supplier of asphalt in the south east and driven by innovation and customer service, the new agreement will also see the doubling of rail freight using its rail service provider Freightliner to Theale with two trains leaving Tilbury each week from January.

The trains will leave the Thames based port each week on a Tuesday and a Friday taking over 3000 tonnes of aggregate by rail to Theale to be used on the UK’s highway network and other construction projects.

1000’s of tonnes of material is arriving by vessel into the port each month from Norway and then distributed by road and rail across the south east to keep at pace with demand.

Commenting on the increased service and agreement, Mark Faraway, Senior Commercial Manager from The Port of Tilbury said: “This is great news to start the year. Our bulks business at The Port of Tilbury is thriving as we have the key ingredients to ensure an efficient and greener supply chain for our customers. We have a good relationship with the team at FM Conway and we are pleased that we can continue this for the next five years.”

Tim Metcalf, FM Conway A&A business development director commented: “Working together with the Port of Tilbury and other supply chain partners such as Stema-Mibau and Freightliner allows us to significantly reduce carbon emissions and road traffic in the south east. We look forward to our continued successful working relationship with the Port of Tilbury.”

18 January 2021                            -ends-

Forth Ports Limited (“Forth Ports”) and Targe Towing Limited (“Targe”) jointly announce today (11^th January,2021) that Forth Ports has acquired the entire share capital of Targe.

Targe is a first class and extremely professional marine services business with an excellent reputation for servicing customers and safety in its operations led by an excellent management team.  Targe owns a fleet of nine vessels, including five tugs, which operate in waters throughout the East of Scotland, as well as managing a further three tugs which operate at the Hound Point marine terminal on the Firth of Forth. Forth Ports’ fleet numbers 10, including four tugs.

Targe has worked closely with Forth Ports’ towage subsidiary, Forth Estuary Towage, for a number of years and both companies believe the acquisition represents an opportunity to build on Targe’s reputation, to expand and take advantage of business opportunities in the towage and marine services area.

Targe’s day-to-day operations will remain the same, with both Tom Woolley, Managing Director, and Nick Dorman, Operations Director, continuing to lead the business, and the Targe name will be retained.

Alasdair Smith, Forth Ports’ Senior Marine Commercial Manager, will join the Targe team in a senior position which will bring the combined commercial expertise of Forth Ports’ Group businesses to deliver on its growth ambitions. The integration process and close collaboration between Forth Estuary Towage and Targe as part of Forth Ports will be led by Stuart Wallace, Forth Ports’ Chief Operating Officer. The consideration for the acquisition is not being disclosed.

Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive of Forth Ports, said:

“This is an important strategic move, establishing a commercial marine services business of scale. I am confident that, as part of Forth Ports, Targe will develop and grow at an even faster pace.”

Tom Woolley, Managing Director of Targe Towing, said:

“We have enjoyed a close working relationship with the Forth Ports team for years and it’s clear that there are opportunities that we can pursue together to further develop the business.”

Targe has received many awards for its work at the Hound Point marine terminal from BP and INEOS, both major customers of Forth Ports and Targe, and the company is recognised for providing a world class service in this operation.

Forth Ports and Targe have each made significant investments in their towage assets recently, with Forth Ports adding the Craigleith and the Inchcolm tugs to its fleet and the Kittiwake and Peterel joining Targe’s fleet.

Ends                                                                                                               11^th January, 2021

The Port of Tilbury and ADM Erith have successfully launched a twice-daily coastal barge operation to deliver thousands of tonnes of oil seed rape from the port’s grain terminal along the River Thames to ADM Erith’s processing facility.

This form of water borne transport reduces truck journeys and ensures a greener supply chain for both businesses. The coastal vessel the Polla Rose takes the cargo from Tilbury twice a day, Monday to Friday with each trip moving 500 tonnes of oil rape seed at a time. [NB: see images provided with this release]

Each round trip is managed by HCH Marine and takes around seven hours and each day this operation removes 36 truck journeys from the already congested roads.

The Port of Tilbury aims to provide a greener supply chain for customers by using water-borne freight solutions.

Gary Vincent, Asset Manager at the Port of Tilbury said: “We are very pleased with this new coastal service for ADM Erith. Using the Polla Rose vessel for this cargo movement has been a success both operationally and as a greener supply chain solution for our customer.”

Martin Farrow, General Manager at ADM in Erith said: “We’re delighted to work together with the port of Tilbury to support our environmental efforts and optimize our supply chain. It also comes at a great time now that our Erith plant is fully operational again.”   

Nick Howard, Managing Director of HCH Marine said: “We’re very happy to have the support of both ADM and the Port of Tilbury and together we are looking forward to keeping river freight alive and doing our bit to keep road congestion down.”

 07 January 2021                            -ends-

Image credit: @KrispenAtkinson

“Regeneration through job creation” is the vision for a Thames Freeport being unveiled today.

DP World and Forth Ports are bidding for a Thames Freeport, with London Gateway, the Port of Tilbury and Ford’s Dagenham engine plant at its heart – highlighting the role of the River Thames in a prosperous, global Britain.

This comes after decades of Government initiatives targeting growth and regeneration across the largest development area in the UK, the Thames Gateway.

Now is the time to use the freeport policy’s special economic measures to turbocharge the best of the private sector to level up the left behind communities along the estuary.

Our Thurrock-based freeport will deliver dispersed wealth, just as the old Port of London did in the past.

Parts of the estuary are in desperate need of this support.

Thurrock is among the country’s top 25 most skills-deprived areas and the neighbourhoods surrounding Tilbury are amongst the top 10% of overall deprivation.

Barking and Dagenham is ranked in the top five local authorities for deprivation – the borough’s unemployment rate is 74% higher than the national average.

Initial modelling suggests that a freeport will unlock more than 20,000 new, better paid jobs and many more through local supply chains, while securing over £400 million in port infrastructure, which will lead to a doubling of port capacity.

The pandemic shockwaves continue to reverberate and have brought every element of the economy into stark focus.

Our proposal will re-connect Britain’s biggest market with its industrial engine.

A Thames Freeport will be a magnet for new investment, jobs, skills development and the adoption of greener technology.

This will drive innovation and transformational productivity gains by turbocharging regional clusters in next generation logistics, automation, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing centred around two global hubs – London Gateway and Tilbury – supporting regeneration in Thurrock and economic growth across the Thames Estuary.

The zone will be a catalyst for commerce, creativity and prosperity.

For example, Ford plans to build on its advanced technology capabilities to electrify, connect and automate vehicle

solutions in-and-around the freeport to reduce pollution and ease congestion.

More than ever, size matters for UK plc.

With almost 1,000 acres of land ready for development – much with planning consent secured – no other port cluster in the south of England can come close to matching our offer to deliver meaningful economic change and linked community benefits in the lifetime of this Parliament.

Our speed of delivery is matched by our global connectivity, with direct shipping routes to every continent for exporters to get their goods to market at speed.

The freeport will link sites along the estuary to the heart of the largest market in Europe via operational wharves helping to reshape urban logistics, alleviating road congestion, and reducing pollution along the A13 corridor.

This is where road and river dovetail – seamless integration of global freight into local supply chains – as Ford builds on its advanced technology capabilities to electrify, connect and automate vehicle solutions in-and-around the freeport.

The freeport will be key to catalysing the Thames’ net zero transformation, including the promotion of investments in clean energy generation, such as hydrogen fuel production, storage and fuelling infrastructure.

This is not uncharted territory, freeports are in our DNA.

DP World began as a free trade zone in Jebel Ali, while Tilbury was a freeport until 2012.

Harnessing our customs expertise, we intend to link the Thames’ trade hubs and manufacturing sites using our track-and-trace technology.

This tried-and-tested system will provide a viable technology platform to ensure the freeports policy is a success at ports across the country.

The Thames Freeport will be a new centre of excellence for the country as we electrify, automate and digitise our future.

We are confident we can replicate that success today to boost the economic prospects of global Britain.

The Thames has historically been a trading and industrial powerhouse, serving the whole UK.

A Thames Freeport will draw on this proud history and established expertise as the catalyst for a green revolution founded on new technology and new trading links, bringing new skills to communities otherwise left behind.

Follow Thames Freeport on Twitter  / LinkedIn

5 January 2021

Ground works got under way at Western Harbour this month (December) as part of the next phase of investment in housing at the popular residential area

The ground preparations are being made for a further two development sites, which combined with the current two plots in this phase of the masterplan will make up a 5-acre site for the development of much needed homes for Edinburgh.

The four combined will deliver a total of 540 homes to be delivered over the next 24–30 months. These homes are planned to add to the portfolio of managed rental properties in Western Harbour, including the recently completely Harbour Gateway, already created by Forth Ports and Rettie & Co.

These new homes will add to the community alongside the new primary school which is nearing completion and is planned for opening in late 2021, together with the new tram terminus. New plans for these homes will be submitted to Edinburgh City Council to seek detailed planning approval in the New Year.

Commenting on the start of the ground works, Carole Cran, Chief Financial Officer at Forth Ports said: “It is great to see the ground works getting under way for two new plots at Western Harbour. There have been a few delays this year due to the impacts of the global pandemic, however we are confident that we will gain planning approval in January to deliver these much needed homes for Edinburgh.”

Matthew Benson, Director, Development Services at Rettie & Co, said:

“Seeing activity at Western Harbour on this next phase of the housing plan is exciting. We hope that we can move to the construction phase of this new development quickly in 2021 in order that we can deliver high quality homes for residents. The success of Forth Ports’ earlier managed rent homes at Harbour Point and Harbour Gateway show that there is an urgent need for new housing in Edinburgh.”

17 December 2020                                     – ends –

Forth Ports welcomed today’s UK Government funding announcement in support of new and enlarged border infrastructure at the group’s key import/export hubs – Grangemouth, Tilbury and Tilbury2 – totalling £11.7m from the Port Infrastructure Fund.

Contractors are on site and the new border inspection facilities are set to be approved and operational for 1 July 2021.

“This £11.7m funding allocation for new border facilities will complement our existing work with cargo owners, shippers and the wider freight community to ensure that our global gateways stay highly productive and congestion free”, commented Charles Hammond OBE, chief executive of Forts Ports Group.

Early this week, Forth Ports unveiled a suite of tools and dedicated support from the group’s in-house Brexit transition support team (https://forthports.co.uk/forth-ports-group/brexit-ready/

Charles Hammond added: “Harnessing our vast experience and proven performance of handling rest-of-world trade supported by I.T. backed border and booking systems, an extensive network of ferry and container connections, and excellent onward rail and road linkages to the largest domestic consumer markets, we will ensure that goods continue to flow efficiently across our borders and onward to their final destination.

“Supply chains are realigning as they seek greater resilience and a low carbon route close to market, and our ports are ideally placed to support through our investment in infrastructure, market leading turnaround times and capacity for growth.”

Port of Grangemouth

– Scotland’s largest container port handling 30% of Scotland’s export

– streamlined customs and border processes, with AEO trusted trader accreditation

– at the heart of the Central Belt, with enhanced rail connections through an ongoing £3m overhaul of the intermodal terminal to accommodate the longest freight trains in the UK at 775m

– enhanced network shipping connections to northern European’s industrial base through key hubs like Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, with new calls to the Benelux.

Port of Tilbury

– the fastest growing port in the UK

– streamlined customs and border processes, with AEO trusted trader accreditation

– home to the country’s newest port, Tilbury2. The £250m terminal is the UK’s largest unaccompanied freight ferry terminal operated by P&O Ferries and the biggest construction processing hub

– P&O’s Tilbury-Zeebrugge ro-ro route has recorded 7% annualised growth in the first six months of Tilbury2’s operation

– London Container Terminal at Tilbury has added five new routes in 2020 – stretching from north Africa to Norway – with a 35% increase in European trade this year.

16 December                                                     – ends –

With less than a month until the end of the transition period, Forth Ports’ chief executive, Charles Hammond, issues valuable guidance to shippers, cargo owners and the wider logistics sector using the group’s eight ports along the east coast of the UK. 

The cargo flowing through our ports varies, but the current supply chain planning and the sentiment from our customers is consistent throughout.

Customs, border and security formalities are about to change in two stages on 1 January and 1 July 2021 for intra-European trade flows, but what’s required?

My dedicated in-house Brexit transition team has been at the heart of discussions with the Border Delivery and Protocol Group and all tiers of the government in England and Scotland as the UK prepares for this new dawn.

The team has also been working collaboratively with our customers to provide Brexit flexible solutions.

Harnessing our vast experience and proven performance of handling rest-of-world trade, I.T. backed border and booking systems, an extensive network of ferry and container connections, and onward rail and road strategic linkages to the largest domestic consumer markets, we will ensure that goods continue to efficiently flow across our borders and onward to their final destination.

Our commitment is to ensure our shelves remain stocked, our NHS is supported, our vehicles fuelled, our industrial base fired and our construction industry thrives by keeping the flow through our ports.

Supply chains are realigning as they seek greater resilience and a low carbon route close to market, and our ports are ideally placed to support through our investment in infrastructure, market leading turnaround times and capacity for growth.

We’ve matched that ambition through a £260 million investment programme in our new port, Tilbury2, and an overhaul of our rail terminals at Tilbury and Grangemouth.

This provides for a 775m long rail hub-to-hub low carbon distribution model for the food, drink and perishables sectors – connecting one of Europe’s largest reefer ports to Scotland’s largest container port.

The growth through our brand new freight ferry terminal operated by P&O Ferries, Tilbury2, is testament to early tremors of the ongoing seaquake.

Despite strong pandemic headwinds, our trade routes have grown substantially.

The Tilbury-Zeebrugge ro-ro route has recorded 7% annualised growth in the first six months of Tilbury2’s operation.

While London Container Terminal at Tilbury has added five new routes in 2020 – stretching from north Africa to Norway – with a 35% increase in European trade this year alone.

Grangemouth has enhanced the frequency of its network connections to northern European’s industrial base through key hubs like Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, with new calls to the Benelux.

Be assured that Forth Ports is ready for Brexit and we have an appetite and capacity to continue supporting growth of core markets.

In these uncertain times, my team has compiled a useful guide of what’s required and when, alongside a guide to key terms, an overview of our services and our global, European and domestic network connections here.

14 December                     – ends-

The investment programme in the redevelopment in the Port of Dundee, totalling £40m, has reached a significant milestone with the start of the latest contract for the construction of a new wharf alongside land upgrades to secure the port’s future in offshore renewable energy and North Sea Oil and Gas projects. This work will augment the development work already completed at the port during 2018/2019.

The work, being delivered by construction and civils engineering company GRAHAM, consists of the construction of a new wharf and the preparation and upgrade of over 15 hectares of land (equivalent to 20 full size football pitches) for the emerging energy transition sector.

The port’s existing Caledon East Warf is being replaced with a new heavy lift quayside that is capable of roll on/off operations as well as conventional lift on/off. Prince Charles Wharf is also undergoing an upgrade after almost 45 years’ service.

Once completed at the end of 2021, the total quayside available at this specific part of the port will be 485m. The quayside, combined with the capital dredging program under way in the River Tay, will allow large semi-submersible vessels (HTV) or wind installation (WIV) to berth in the port.

Dundee is currently the wind turbine hub for the construction of EDF Renewables’ and ESB’s major offshore wind farm, Neart na Gaoithe (NnG).

Commenting on the investment in Dundee, Senior Port Manager, David Webster, said: “This significant investment in the Port of Dundee demonstrates our commitment to bring large-scale renewables and decommissioning projects to Scotland. We are pleased to work with GRAHAM on this project in Dundee following their successful delivery of our new freight ferry terminal in Tilbury2 earlier this year.”

Leo Martin, managing director of GRAHAM’s civil engineering division, said:

“This will be our second project working in collaboration with Forth Ports, following our completion of Tilbury2 on the Thames.

“This is a fantastic scheme for GRAHAM to be working on and another opportunity to demonstrate our wide-ranging marine construction and civils capabilities.

“The offshore renewables construction facility at the Port of Dundee promises to bring significant benefits to both Dundee and indeed the whole of Scotland, both socially and economically, creating jobs and supporting the supply of low carbon electricity.”

14 December 2020                             -ENDS-

The Port of Grangemouth today (10 December) announces a multimillion-pound investment in its rail freight offering which will cement its position as the key strategic freight and export/import hub for Scotland.

The £3 million investment will significantly scale up and modernise the port’s current rail capacity to create an extended dual rail siding of 775 metres – currently 200 metres – capable of handling the longest freight trains on the UK network. When operational early next year, Grangemouth’s will be the first rail freight terminal to offer this and provide enhanced container / domestic intermodal options particularly for customers in the food, drink and perishables sectors across the Scottish freight community.

The investment in rail comes at an important time for the freight market as businesses are seeking flexible, resilient, and greener supply chain solutions. Grangemouth has the unrivalled position of being truly interconnected for sea to rail and rail to sea, with the added flexibility of direct road access into Central Scotland and beyond. With regular container ship calls into the port each week from mainland Europe and the South East of England, this increased rail capacity will help to take trucks off the UK’s congested roads and to lower customers’ carbon footprint.

The port also has on-site distribution warehouses with cross docking possibilities and is within a few miles of the main supermarket distribution centres within Central Scotland.  Grangemouth’s key strategic location in Scotland allows customers to take advantage of the excellent road, rail and shipping network that the port offers.

Commenting on the investment, Derek Knox, Senior Port Manager at The Port of Grangemouth said: “Over the past five years, we have invested over £30 million in the Port of Grangemouth to offer our customers first class service and connectivity for their businesses. We now look to extend this further and the investment in our rail terminal is part of our strategy to provide more resilient, cost effective, greener and efficient options for rail freight transportation to our existing and future customers.

 “The unique advantage of the Grangemouth rail freight terminal is that it is directly linked to Scotland’s largest container port.  This enables customers to easily connect to established short and deep-sea shipping connections to European and international markets.  Additionally, excellent road connectivity to the Port and our central location provides an attractive opportunity for domestic freight flows within the UK.

 “As the UK prepares to leave the EU Single Market and the Customs Union, the freight sector is looking at ways to maintain an efficient free flowing supply chain. With the new rail offering combined with our established port operations and streamlined customs processes, the freight hub we are creating provides a unique solution.  We have recently appointed a rail freight expert, Ian Wilson, to support our rail growth strategy and, coupled with our established rail links with our sister port in Tilbury, we are confident that rail customers will benefit significantly from both freight hubs.”

Existing services link Grangemouth and its sister port in Tilbury on the Thames with a connection through Daventry. Construction of the new rail extension starts this month and is expected to welcome its first train in January 2021 building on current rail volumes at the port.

10 December 2020                                        -Ends-