Forth Ports scooped a trio of awards at the prestigious Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2020 last night (27 February).

The port group won in the High Growth Business of the Year for Capital Cruising and Large Business of the Year. The business also celebrated the individual award win to Harbour Master Ryan Porteous who was named Young Leader of the Year.

High Growth Business of the Year for Capital Cruising – the judges were impressed with the strong growth performance of Capital Cruising which is Forth Port’s cruise business brand. The business has experience strong growth to become the second largest UK cruise operator enjoying a 50% increase in customer base and an impressive 75% increase in cruise calls. The success is based on a strong commercial and brand strategy coupled with a collaborative approach to customer service and passenger experience.

Large Business of the Year – Forth Ports – the judges were impressed with the strong managerial and financial performance of Forth Ports. Forth Ports is one of the UK’s largest port groups with over 1,100 employees, handling over 41million tonnes of cargo at their ports and contributing £950million of economic value to the UK. The company has an ambitious investment strategy across it ports with the development of a new multimillion pound port in Tilbury on the Thames to increase the import and export capacity; a renewables and decommissioning hub and new £10million heavy-lift quayside in Dundee; and in Grangemouth a £15million investment in infrastructure, crane capability and a Skills & Business Centre. The business also invests in its people to create a strong service delivery and ensure a skilled workforce for the future.

Young Leader of the Year Award to Ryan Porteous – Ryan has impressed with his level of vision and leadership deploying his skills to positively impact both the teams he works with and the wider business. His role as Harbour Master for Dundee and Leith is to assume overall responsibility for the safe and efficient running of all marine aspects of the Port. Ryan provides leaderships to a marine team and is key in liaising with the customer, managing commercial pressure whilst maintaining the safety of navigation. In addition to the Port based part of his role, Ryan has been proactively involved in engaging local organisation with the safe usage of the River.  Inspiring a joint safety campaign with the local leisure fraternities such as fishing, sailing and water sport clubs along with the Police to promote safe and responsible river use.

Celebrating the awards success, Stuart Wallace, Chief Operating Officer, Forth Ports said: “We are thrilled to win these two awards for the business and we are extremely proud of Ryan’s win as Young Leader of the Year. Ryan is an impressive individual and this award is testament to his professional achievements and personal drive. All three awards are a result of the hard work of many people across the business and my thanks and congratulations go to the teams who have contributed to this success.

This is an exciting year ahead for Forth Ports are we open a new port in Spring in Tilbury; host a prestigious global Cruise conference in Edinburgh in March and continue our multimillion-pound investment programme across our Scottish operations.”

28 February 2019                              -ends-

Scotland’s largest agricultural products hub (“agri-hub”) is now fully operational at the Port of Rosyth with the arrival of the Baltic Mantis bulk cargo ship and her load of over 30,000 tonnes of animal feed from Argentina.

As part of a long-term partnership with Forth Ports and Cefetra Ltd, the Fife port has now become the main Scotland’s principal agri-hub, handling an extensive range of agricultural products for the Scottish animal feed, food and drink and farming industries.

To create the unrivalled agri-hub, the Port of Rosyth has been deepened to provide a true deep-water port capable of taking vessels carrying up to 50,000 tonnes of cargo. Its existing storage facilities have been significantly extended with the addition of a new, 200,000sq.ft. purpose built agricultural products terminal, increasing the port’s storage capacity to around 100,000 tonnes. The terminal was built by Luddon Construction and the port manages all the operations in the store.

The port has invested in a new Liebherr mobile harbour crane for bulk handling capability at the agri-hub. This new crane is a state-of-the-art mobile harbour crane with powerful transmission and advanced electronics for bulk handing.

To further enhance the port’s bulk handling process, and to manage dust emissions, a new SAMSON ecological hopper is also now in place at the port. The eco hopper is the first of its kind in the UK and forms a key component of the new agri-bulk hub facility.

Derek Knox, Senior Port Manager, The Port of Rosyth said: “This is an exciting time for the Port of Rosyth as we see another significant investment programme for our customer, Cefetra, reflecting our strategy of working in partnership to deliver supply chain solutions reach fruition. This new agri-hub and our new Liebherr mobile harbour crane bring together the port’s unrivalled logistics links as well as its excellent marine capability. It’s also great to see the new SAMSON eco hopper in use. This is a key part of our dust control at the port. My thanks also to the Luddon Construction team who delivered the new terminal warehouse ahead of schedule.”

Andrew Mackay, Managing Director at Cefetra Ltd, said: “We are very pleased with the new Rosyth agri-hub development. We would like to thank Forth Ports and their contractors Luddon, Liebherr and Samson for delivering these excellent purpose-built facilities. The agri-hub will increase the efficiency of our supply chains, allowing us to take advantage of scale and location, bringing additional benefits to our customers and to Scottish agriculture for the long term.”

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.

26 February 2020                           – ENDS –

Scotland’s container terminal, within the Port of Grangemouth, welcomed five new Kalmar/Cargotec straddle carriers as part of a multi-million-pound investment in terminal equipment at the port. The five new Kalmar ESC 440 diesel-electric straddle carriers were built in Port of Gdynia, Poland and shipped into the port aboard the specialist cargo ship Taiga Desgagnes [see link to a time-lapse of the unloading here: https://vimeo.com/390577168/b8c4e1eec1].

The new straddles are the first phase of ‘taller’ straddles purchased by the port group in Scotland and will increase capacity of the container terminal by allowing containers to be stacked up to three high. Currently the stack is two high and with these new taller machines, the capacity of the container terminal will increase by 50%. The diesel-electric straddles are fuel efficient, low noise and feature a diesel-electric drive which fully complies with the latest exhaust emission regulations.

Senior Port Manager, Derek Knox, said: “The arrival of our five new Kalmar/Cargotec straddle carriers is an important asset and will facilitate increased container volumes moving through the port in the coming months and years.  This investment builds on a year of growth in container volumes in Grangemouth despite the current economic uncertainty.

The additional capacity that will be created further secures our position as Scotland’s largest container terminal with a modern fleet of equipment and the supply of storage capacity to meet future demands. In Grangemouth we handle some of the country’s most valuable exports, such as fine foods and drinks, so flexibility and durability of our equipment is essential with further investment in our straddle carrier fleet planned over the next few years.”

Mikko Mononen, VP, Sales, EMEIA, Kalmar: “We are happy to continue strengthening our long-standing and successful partnership with Forth Ports with this delivery. Driven by a highly efficient diesel-electric power unit Kalmar Straddle carriers comply with the latest emission regulations and offer excellent maneuverability, quiet operation and easy maintenance. The 8^th generation machines come with a number of refinements and improvements that have been developed in close collaboration with our customers and they have proven to be a reliable and dependable choice.”

The straddles will be put into operation next month (March) following an induction period and training for the straddle drivers. More than £6billion worth of goods passes through Grangemouth each year including food and drink, steel plate, timber, paper and equipment for the oil and gas industry.

• February 2020                         -Ends –

Nusrat Ghani MP, Maritime Minister, visited the Port of Tilbury – London’s major port – today for an overview of the Forth Ports Group’s flagship investment – the new 160 acre port terminal, Tilbury2 – alongside the community outreach, employment and re-training programmes to support former armed forces personnel and their families get back-to-work, utilising the Tilbury on the Thames Trust’s high-tech simulator suite.

The Minister also met two female graduate trainees and heard about the Group’s efforts to promote greater gender diversity, as part of the Women in Maritime initiative.

The Minister was also briefed on Tilbury’s network of short-sea container routes to northern and southern Europe, including the latest addition – a weekly service to Portugal (Lisbon and Leixões) operated by Samskip / X-Press Containerised, predominantly for fresh produce, beverages and manufactured goods.

The £250m Tilbury2 project consists of the construction of a new port terminal and associated facilities on land at the former Tilbury Power Station on the north bank of the River Thames at Tilbury. When operational in April 2020, Tilbury2 will be the UK’s largest unaccompanied freight ferry port, the country’s biggest construction processing hub and will see the creation of a new significantly larger rail head which can accommodate the longest freight trains of 775m. The site will be trusted trader Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) accredited and will employ the latest border technology, such as number plate recognition. The marine and terrestrial construction programme is being delivered by GRAHAM.
The project is central to the Port of Tilbury’s £1 billion investment programme during 2012-20, which has seen it double the size of its business in the past 10 years and is projected to double the volume of cargo across the quay (from 16 million to 32 million tonnes) and increase direct employment (from 3,500 to 12,000 jobs) over the next 10-15 years.

“Our new port is nearing completion at a crucial time as the UK prepares to leave the European Union. Harnessing the best-in-class border processes, Tilbury2 will be Brexit ready when the first ship docks at the start of April,” commented Charles Hammond, Chief Executive of Forth Ports.

Nusrat Ghani MP, Maritime Minister, said: “Ports are at the heart of the UK’s economy and I was delighted to visit the Port of Tilbury today and see the progress being made with Tilbury2 after the major development was recently given the go-ahead by the Department for Transport.

“This is an impressive example of how we are supporting our ports to harness talent, boosting diversity and taking advantage of technologies to bolster the capabilities of nearly 30,000 people who work at the ports around the country.”

The crew manning the tug, the Craigleith, on the River Forth on Christmas Day have been assured a traditional festive dinner after the marine team at Forth Ports made a special delivery of their turkey – by pilot boat.

A three-strong crew of the Craigleith will be onboard the tug over the festive period moored close to the Braefoot Gas terminal, east of the Forth Bridge on the River Forth, to ensure the safety and smooth transit of ships using this busy waterway. Tugs are also used in situations which need firefighting and marine pollution control capabilities; however these situations are a very rare occurrence.

Each year, Forth Ports gives each of its employees across the group a fresh turkey for Christmas. In Scotland, over 500 turkeys are distributed around the ports of Dundee, Rosyth, Grangemouth, Burntisland, Methil and Leith and the teams working on the Forth and Tay Estuaries.

Commenting on the festive delivery to the Craigleith, Stuart Wallace, Chief Operating Officer at Forth Ports, said: “It’s a long-standing tradition in the ports industry that employees get a turkey for Christmas to enjoy with their families. The Craigleith’s crew will be out on the river and away from their friends and families this Christmas but we weren’t going to let them miss out on this important custom. Our thanks and appreciation go to them and all our teams around the business who are working over the festive period.”

The Craigleith is the pride of Forth Ports fleet of tugs. Launched last year, the tug was named the Craigleith in keeping with the tradition of the tugs on the Forth being named after islands in the estuary. The Fidra, Seal Carr and Oxcar tugs are the other tugs in service.

Picture: Ben Greenshields (skipper of Craigleith tug) and Theo Currie (Towage Manager from Forth Ports) onboard the pilot boat the Puma, with the Craigleith in the background

23 December 2019                             – ends –

A 360-tonne bridge has been lifted into place as part of construction of a new port for the South East, Tilbury2.

The steel bridge was towed 135 nautical miles from Rotterdam to the Tilbury2 site – a process which took 24 hours – before it was lifted into place. See the video of the journey here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY15F6AtQR8

The approach bridge is the first of three components to be installed over the next few months to create a Roll On – Roll Off facility into the new terminal currently under construction by GRAHAM.

Peter Ward, Commercial Director at The Port of Tilbury, said: “This is another important milestone in the creation of our new port Tilbury2.

“GRAHAM’s team successfully completed the link span fixed bridge installation and we look forward to seeing the bridge opened early next year.”

The steel bridge, measuring 54m x 15m x 5m was chosen for its strength and durability in the marine environment.

It was transported by the HAPO pontoon H-332 and supporting tug.

The Port of London (PLA) pilots were on board when entering the Thames Estuary and remained with GRAHAM throughout the lifting operations.

Following closely behind in convoy was the MATADOR 3 seagoing floating sheerleg crane with a lifting capacity of 1,800 tonnes, again with a supporting tug.

Paul Scott, Contracts Director for GRAHAM, said: “We have hit another milestone on this major project with the arrival and installation of the approach bridge.

“It was a real team effort from the loading out at Ravestein’s BV yard through to the installation.

“The approach bridge is positioned from abutments on both the landside of the flood defence and on the foreshore.”

The Tilbury2 project consists of the construction of a new port terminal and associated facilities on land at the former Tilbury Power Station on the north bank of the River Thames at Tilbury.

When operational in Spring 2020, Tilbury2 will be the UK’s largest unaccompanied freight ferry port, the country’s biggest construction processing hub and will see the creation of a new significantly larger rail head which can accommodate the longest freight trains of 775m.

The project is central to the Port of Tilbury’s £1 billion investment programme during 2012-20, which has seen it double the size of its business in the past 10 years and is projected to double the volume of cargo across the quay (from 16 million to 32 million tonnes) and increase direct employment (from 3,500 to 12,000 jobs) over the next 10-15 years.

-ENDS-

Construction of the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind farm is now underway following confirmation from EDF Renewables that financial close for the project has been achieved. Twenty-five (25) financial institutions are lending money to fund the wind farm which will supply enough low carbon electricity for around 375,000 homes.

All of the project’s 54 turbines will be assembled at the Port of Dundee before being sailed to the site and the Scottish engineering firm BiFab will build a number of the foundation jackets.

NnG has a capacity of c. 450 megawatts (MW) of low carbon energy and will offset over 400,000 tonnes of Co2 emissions each year. Construction of components is now underway, offshore construction will start in June 2020 and full commissioning will complete in 2023.

Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive of Forth Ports, said: “This is great news for Dundee and we look forward to working with EDF Renewables and Siemens Gamesa on this major development that will bring significant benefits to not only the City of Dundee and the port but the whole of Scotland. Continued investment in our facilities, skills and infrastructure along with our £10m industry-leading heavy lift quayside means the Port of Dundee is well placed to deliver this prestigious offshore wind infrastructure project.”

See link to video of Charles Hammond talking about the news: https://vimeo.com/376136758/8d0f994b7a

Link to main news release: https://nngoffshorewind.com/2019/11/28/construction-of-neart-na-gaoithe-offshore-wind-farm-project-to-go-ahead-following-financial-agreements/

Tarmac, the UK’s leading sustainable building materials and construction solutions business, has partnered with London’s fastest growing port, the Port of Tilbury, to create the UK’s largest construction materials aggregates terminal at Tilbury2, the new port being constructed on the north bank of the River Thames.

The work will see the creation of new aggregate processing and manufacturing facilities, including an asphalt and ready mix concrete plant, at the new port terminal, supported by the terminal’s deep sea capacity for vessels up to 100,000 metric tonnes. Its riverside location will enable the easy import of raw materials and facilitate the use of the River Thames as a delivery route for processed construction materials into Central London.

Martin Riley, senior vice president of Tarmac, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Forth Ports on this project. It demonstrates our firm commitment to the development of industry leading infrastructure to support the delivery of the UK’s long-term built environment ambitions.”

In February 2019, Forth Ports, owner of The Port of Tilbury, obtained approval under a development consent order (DCO) from the Planning Inspectorate to build a new terminal adjacent to its current port in Thurrock.  The new, privately funded port is being built on a 152-acre site and it is envisaged that Tilbury2 will act as a satellite of the main port, comprising a:

• Roll on/roll off ferry terminal for importing and exporting containers and trailers
• Construction Materials and Aggregate Terminal (CMAT) for importing, processing, manufacturing and distributing construction materials
• New nationally strategic rail and road connection into the site.

Tarmac’s Mark Wood, managing director – Materials South, said: “This exclusive development will ensure the long-term security of aggregate supplies into London and the South East, allowing us to support vital construction projects while using alternative transportation methods for the movement of materials, taking vehicles off the congested roads around the capital and using the Thames as a means of importing aggregates and other bulk materials into London.”

Charles Hammond, Chief Executive of Forth Ports, owners of the Port of Tilbury, said: “Our investment in the development of Tilbury2 is essential for the Port of Tilbury to accommodate the growing demand from our customers. This announcement sees the creation of the country’s biggest construction materials processing hub in partnership with Tarmac, the UK’s largest supplier of construction materials, and is a valued addition to the broad range of partnerships we have right across our Tilbury facility.”

Peter Ward, Commercial Director at the Port of Tilbury, said: “We look forward to welcoming Tarmac to Tilbury2 when the facility opens in 2020. The port’s deep sea capacity for vessels up to 100,000 tonnes positions it uniquely to service Tarmac’s planned on-site aggregate processing and manufacturing facilities. Tarmac’s location within Tilbury2 will ensure that the construction industry in London and the South East of England can have fast access to the materials they require.”

Joint development of the site by the Port of Tilbury and Tarmac will take place through late 2019 to establish most operations by the end of 2020.

//ends