• Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • The UK Ports Industry
    • Port Skills and Safety
    • British Ports Association
    • Other Partner Organisations
  • Policies
    • Safety
    • Environment
    • Local communities
    • Developing skills
    • EU
    • Working with Devolved Administrations
    • Road and Rail Links to Ports
  • Ports
  • News
    • UKMPG News
    • Members News
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Members
    • Log In
    • Log Out

UK Major Ports Group

UK Major Ports

Members News:
Bigger ships than ever call at the Port of London as trade increases

March 10, 2016 by Lianne Stephens

The Port of London saw larger ships than ever calling last year as the tonnage of cargo handled at Thames terminals climbed to 45.4 million tonnes (up 2% on 2014).

PLA chief executive, Robin Mortimer said:

“Last year a number of operators introduced new, bigger ships and records were broken.  The record breakers included container ship, UASC Barzan and cruise ship Viking Star.  The 400 metre long Barzan set a new benchmark as the biggest-ever ship on the Thames when she called at London Gateway Port in September.  Viking Star became the largest-ever cruise ship in central London when she called at our Greenwich cruise ship moorings on her inaugural trip in May.

“Since August, the Port of Tilbury has welcomed over 20 calls from Grimaldi’s new-generation, larger capacity con-ro ships, operating on routes between Europe and West Africa.  Longer and wider than their predecessors, they are handled at Tilbury’s new landing stage berth, rather than in the docks.  And the Thames’ busiest service operator, CLdN has much larger, “game changer”, ships being built as well.

“It’s developments like these, combined with the planned £1 billion of investment by Thames terminals and operators over the next five years, that give us confidence in the future.  The Thames Vision project, looking at how the Thames will develop over the next two decades has set a goal of port trade growing to over 60 million tonnes.”

The tonnage of cargo handled at terminals on the Thames last year was 45.4 million tonnes, 0.9 million tonnes (or 2%) up on 2014. Growth was principally in containers and trailers (unitised traffic) up 4% to 16.9 million tonnes; aggregates and cement increased again as construction continued to recover from 9.7 million tonnes (11%) up to 10.7 million tonnes. Oil trades fell by 8% to 10.9 million tonnes, with volumes particularly low at the beginning of year.

At the Port of Tilbury, P&O Ferries passed a milestone, handling its one millionth freight unit at the port and the port handled over 40 million bricks.  Not only that, a record 100,000 passengers passed through the London International Cruise Terminal.  At London Gateway Port, development of the third berth continued as increasing numbers of ultra large container ships called, benefitting from the port’s ability to continue operating even in high winds.

12.05.15 - Port of London Authority, Cruise ship Viking Star sailing upriver to Greenwich.

12.05.15 - Port of London Authority, Cruise ship Viking Star sailing upriver to Greenwich.

Filed Under: Members News

Sign Up For Updates

Add your email address to be notified whenever we post news updates.

Events

January 2021
MTWTFSS
« Dec   Feb »
     1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Recent News

Commitment to Sustainable Freeports

Commitment to Sustainable Freeports

January 18, 2021 By Lianne Stephens

BLOG: Five Trends for UK Ports in 2021

BLOG: Five Trends for UK Ports in 2021

January 13, 2021 By Lianne Stephens

UK Major Ports Group comments on current COVID-19 border congestion

December 21, 2020 By Lianne Stephens

UK Major Ports Group responds to demands for an inquiry about port congestion

UK Major Ports Group responds to demands for an inquiry about port congestion

December 17, 2020 By Lianne Stephens

About UK Major Ports Group

The United Kingdom Major Ports Group Ltd (UKMPG) was formed in 1993 and is the trade association representing most of the larger commercial ports in the United Kingdom. It has nine members who, between them, own and operate over 40 ports, accounting for more than 70% of the total tonnage handled in UK ports. … Continue Reading

Latest Tweets

  • Good conversation and welcome to talk about #NatureRecovery & #OceanRecovery as well as emissions. Ports committed… https://t.co/eC6DG9S3VZ January 25, 2021 11:27 am
  • Our ports are not just the UK's biggest & most important gateways for trade with the world. They are also the locat… https://t.co/iMmDCaXyJv January 25, 2021 10:56 am
  • Delighted to chair the keynote session with @TonyJuniper at today's #OceanRecovery #CoastalFutures21 event. Some fa… https://t.co/WyKSxWalgn January 21, 2021 12:28 pm
  • Freeports can fuel investment in communities who need it most. UKMPG and port operators are again reaffirming their… https://t.co/1Ggy5VRu6v January 18, 2021 4:00 pm
  • Follow us on Twitter

Contact Us

UK Major Ports Group
1st Floor
30 Park Street
London
SE1 9EQ

Tel. +44 (0) 20 7260 1785

Copyright © 2021 · UK Major Ports Group · Built by Blue Pie Media

This site uses cookies: Find out more.