Part of daily life
Do they think of quaysides and cranes as they munch on cereal, toast and butter while reading the newspaper? Do they consider tankers and pipelines as they set out in their car and drive to work via the petrol station? Probably not. But if they did ask the questions . . .
A huge variety of products are shipped into the Port of London from destinations all over the world, and without them, life for millions of people would be very different indeed. Let’s start with power. Some 1.5 million tonnes of coal are shipped into Tilbury Power Station every year, which produces enough electricity for the needs of a million people. RWE npower imports coal using panamax size ships of up to 70,000 tonnes capacity – mainly from the Baltic, particularly from Russia and the Latvian port of Riga; coal has also been delivered from the Far East, South America, Australia, the US and South Africa. The Coryton Refinery, owned by Petroplus, is one of the largest refineries in Europe – processing 172,000 barrels of crude per day, with additional throughput capacity of up to 70,000 barrels per day of other feedstocks. Production is split roughly equally between gasoline and diesel; products are distributed via the refinery’s own on-site truck-loading rack, railcar loading facilities, pipeline and marine facilities. Vopak specialises in the storage and handling of petroleum products and also offers fuel blending at its Thames site.
And a wide variety of other liquid bulks and chemicals are imported and blended at facilities such as TDG’s Dagenham plant, Nustar and Oikos Storage’s Canvey Island site, which handles aviation fuel, petroleum products and chemicals. TDG also handles hard and soft vegetable and edible oils, for food production. At Purfleet, Pura Foods imports about 300,000 tonnes of edible oils a year, including sunflower, rapeseed, palm and coconut – serving Unilever’s margarine factory immediately next door and a wide range of food manufacturing factories in the UK and overseas. And so to that newspaper – or office paper, or letter, or birthday card. London is the UK’s largest hub for the import of newsprint and other reeled papers, as well as board, pulp, plywood, timber and other forest products used in furniture, building and other sectors. Forest products make their way into London’s specialist terminals via both deepsea and shortsea services. Cars, too, are a major business in London – Hyundai, which has seen UK sales rocket in recent years, has a dedicated operation at the Port of Tilbury. Other marques arrive into the port via shortsea ro-ro services operated by Cobelfret, while most of the 1.2 million diesel engines manufactured each year at Ford’s Dagenham Engine Plant are shipped to vehicle assembly plants throughout Europe. And parallel to the many finished products handled by the port are the raw and semi-finished products that are essential to major construction projects and to everyday life – aggregates and steel, including coil, rebar and structural steel, which are imported through a large number of Of course, many of London’s imports arrive in unitised form – via shortsea or deepsea containerlines, or by roll-on/roll-off services into terminals such as CdMR Purfleet or facilities served by P&O, Grimaldi, Transfennica and DFDS. From nappies to table tennis bats – you name it and it’s probably been in a box or trailer arriving into the Port of London. Many of the major supermarket chains have huge warehousing and distribution centres close to the Thames, once again underlining London’s critical position at the hub of so many supply chains. A figure often quoted is that 95% of the UK’s imports arrive by sea. It’s good to remember that a great deal of them arrive via the Thames. (Article taken from the 2010 Port of London Handbook produced by Compass Publications. For copies please contact the PLA Corporate Affairs Team on 01474 562364, or please use this Enquiry Form.) |
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
