Port of Tilbury expands grain terminal

The English port is increasing storage capacity at its grain terminal to accommodate up to an extra 16,000 metric tons of both import and export wheat at the port.    The Port of Tilbury, situated just east of London along the River Thames, is expanding storage capacity at its grain terminal, United Kingdom-based port owner and operator Forth Ports said.
   Storage capacity at the grain terminal will increase to accommodate up to an extra 16,000 metric tons of both import and export wheat at the port.
   The new flat storage facility will be built adjacent to the existing grain terminal and will use the mill gallery conveyor system with overhead conveyors feeding the new storage unit automatically.
   Construction is beginning this month and the multimillion pound investment is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.
   Currently, the grain terminal has a storage capacity of 120,000 metric tons and handles over 1.4 million metric tons of crops a year. The terminal’s key customers include Frontier, Allied Mills and ADM.
   In addition, the Port of Tilbury recently acquired 152 acres of land, including a further deep water jetty, expanding its coverage to 1,100 acres in response to increasing demand. Financial details of the land purchase were not disclosed. However, at least 100 million euros (U.S. $113.9 million) are expected to be invested in infrastructure facilities on the land.
   The Port of Tilbury has facilities to handle paper and forest products, containers, roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro), dry bulk and general cargo, in addition to the grain terminal.
   In terms of liner services, the port is frequented by 11 fully cellular container shipping services, in addition to multiple intra-North Europe fully cellular container services; and Grimaldi’s Northern Express and Central Express conro (container and ro-ro) loops, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting.