London Thamesport

London Thames Port (until 19 June 2008: Thames Port ) is a north-east of Rochester in Kent situated deep water port for container handling. The resulting on a former industrial site from 1989 port is located on the southern part of the Isle of Grain at the mouth of the River Medway in the estuary of the Thames.

History

In the south of the Isle of Grain, which is only the tip of the Hoo peninsula since the filling of a river arm, a large oil refinery in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was created after the Second World War with the " Kent Oil Refinery " (later British Petroleum ). Already in 1928 there was a tank farm with port connected. From 1953 a year up to ten million tons of crude oil were processed in a 4 -acre site. The buyers of petroleum products produced there included, in particular the nearby oil power plants Grain and Kingsnorth. After nearly three decades, the refinery was closed on August 27, 1982 in favor of modern BP locations. The plant was taken over by the then state-owned company British Gas, which was built on a small part of the area, a facility for the storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, more than three-quarters of the area initially remained unused.

In 1987, British Gas against plans to build a port for container handling on a 0.87 km ² large part of the fallow refinery site. Under criticism from environmentalists, who feared damage to the ecosystem of the Thames Estuary, was started in 1989 with the construction. The financing of 150 million British pounds expensive, baptized in the name of Thames port construction project, carried out by the operating company Thames Port Ltd on risk capital. In March 1990, the envelope could start with a capacity of approximately 360,000 TEU per year.

Thames port was landside initially affiliated exclusively across the street, although in principle there was a railway line from Gravesend on the Isle of Grain available, which was also used by other, established on the former refinery area businesses. Using a government grant in the amount of 1.8 million pounds a freight station with rail and terminals originated from January 1992 on the Thames port area, the end of that year could be put into operation.

The agreed repayment of risk capital in the amount of approximately 100 million British pounds led the operating company Thames Port Ltd in the first half of the 1990s in financial difficulty. After time, a banking consortium led oversight of the company, the investment company Rutland Partners LLP acquired in December 1995 for GBP 25 million, 95% of MTS Holdings Ltd - the parent company of Thames Port Ltd. - and took over both the coverage of debt in the amount of 27 million British pounds. Under its new ownership an expansion of the port was started, with the capacity could be increased to approximately 635,000 TEUs per year. In 1997, the port was profitable; with a turnover of 27.3 million pounds a profit (before tax) of around 2.5 million British pounds was achieved.

In February 1998, Rutland Partners LLP sold its shares in the Company MTS Holdings Ltd. along with a small shipping company called " Maritime Haulage " for 112 million British pounds to the Hutchison Whampoa Group. Hutchison Whampoa operates the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich also two other important ports on the British east coast.

2001 Thames port was developed into a deep-water port. For 3.5 million British pounds, the harbor was expanded to a nominal depth of 15.5 meters, the access to a minimum depth of 12.5 meters.

June 19, 2008 it was renamed the harbor in London Thames port.

Facilities

Centerpiece of the port, the 655 meter long quay crane with six lanes. For temporary storage is a plant with a capacity of 26,000 TEU available to take over its 19 cranes fully automatically without crane operator placement of containers.

Overall, can be handled in Thames Port annually about 635,000 TEU. In the long term is to be doubled by a further expansion of the port capacity.

Traffic

London Thames port is connected via the A228 trunk road with Rochester, the M2 Motorway towards Faversham and the developed multitrack highway A2 towards London.

The port also has a connection to the single-track, since 1961, used exclusively for freight railway line from Hoo Junction ( Gravesend ) on the Isle of Grain. Three bodies working in the freight rail companies of Britain - English, Welsh & Scottish Railway, Fastline Freight and Freightliner - go London Thames port is currently with container trains. The share of rail in total landside traffic to and from London Thames port in the first half of 2005 at around 25%.