Port of Tilbury | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | UK |
Location | Tilbury, Essex |
Coordinates | 51°27′36″N0°20′42″E / 51.46°N 0.345°E |
Details | |
Opened | 1886 |
Owned by | Forth Ports |
No. of berths | 56 |
Statistics | |
Website https://forthports.co.uk/tilbury-london/ |
Port of Tilbury | |
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Location within Essex | |
OS grid reference | TQ639761 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Police | Essex |
Fire | Essex |
Ambulance | East of England |
The Port of Tilbury is a port located on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It serves as the principal port for London, as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facilities for containers, grain, and other bulk cargoes. There are also facilities for the importation of cars. It forms part of the wider Port of London.
The Port of Tilbury lies on the north shore of the River Thames, 25 miles (40 km) downstream of London Bridge, at a point where the river makes a loop southwards, and where its width narrows to 800 yards (730 m). The loop is part of the Thames lower reaches: within the meander was a huge area of marshland. Gravesend on the opposite shore had long been a port of entry for shipping, all of which had used the river itself for loading and unloading of cargo and passengers. There was also a naval dockyard at Northfleet at the mouth of the Ebbsfleet River. The new deepwater docks were an extension of all that maritime activity. The original docks consisted of a tidal basin on Gravesend Reach opposite Northfleet, connected by a lock to a main dock with three side branches named East, Central and West Branch docks. Between the tidal basin and Main Dock were two dry docks.
The original docks of London, all built close to the City, were opened in stages by what was to become the East and West India Docks Company (E&WIDC) at the beginning of the 19th century. With the coming of the railways and increasing ship size, proximity to the centre of London became less important than access to deep water, unrestricted sites and reduction in time spent travelling up the winding Thames. The company had long been in competition with its rival, the London and St Katherine Dock Company (L&StKDC). The opening of the Royal Albert Dock by the L&StKDC, with its deepwater quayage, in 1880 had given access to the Thames at Gallions Reach, 11 miles (18 km) by river below London Bridge and downstream of the then principal London docks. The E&WIDC were forced to retaliate. [1]
In July 1882, an Act of Parliament allowed the latter to construct the docks at Tilbury. The construction encountered difficulties when the contractors, Kirk & Randell unexpectedly encountered blue clay and claimed extra costs. The company had them ejected from the site in 1884, triggering expensive legal action. [2] For a while the East & West India Company continued construction with their own workers until the firm of Lucas and Aird was engaged to complete the work. [3] The first vessel entered the docks on 17 April 1886. [4] This was the Glenfruin carrying the official party for the opening ceremony. [5] The opening of the dock took place at the beginning of the steamship era, and its location soon proved to be advantageous. [6]
In 1909 Tilbury, along with the upstream docks, became part of the newly established Port of London Authority (PLA). [7]
In 1921, and again in 1929, the PLA carried out major improvements. These included a new lock 1,000 feet (300 m) long and 110 ft (34 m) wide, linking the docks directly to the Thames to the west at Northfleet Hope, and a third dry dock, 752 feet (229 m) long and 110 feet (34 m) wide. These works were carried out by Sir Robert McAlpine. [8]
During the 1960s, at the time when the upstream docks were closing, the PLA further extended the Tilbury dock facilities. Between 1963 and 1966 a huge fourth branch dock, running north from Main Dock for nearly 1 mile (1.6 km), was constructed. The tidal basin was closed and eventually filled in. In 1969 a £6 million riverside grain terminal on Northfleet Hope was brought into use. [9]
The PLA funded a new £30 million container port which opened in 1967. Labour issues prevented full service from starting until April 1970, although United States Lines reached an agreement with the union to begin service in 1968. [10]
Near the Dockmaster's office, on New Lock, is a memorial to Captain Peter de Neumann, GM, who was killed there in an accident on 16 September 1972. [11] In 1978, a deep water riverside berth was opened for large container ships on reclaimed land at Northfleet Hope. [6]
In 1992 the port was privatised and became part of the Forth Ports organisation, the PLA retaining the role of managing the tidal Thames. [12]
Rolf Harris visited the Docks in 2004 during a TV episode of Rolf on Art, when he recreated J. M. W. Turner's famous painting The Fighting Temeraire . [13]
On 25 January 2012 Otter Ports Holdings Ltd, owner of Forth Ports, acquired from DP World Limited ("DP World") and Associated British Ports Ltd ("AB Ports") the 67% ownership of Tilbury Container Services Ltd ("TCS") not already owned by Forth Ports in a cash transaction. Forth Ports had been a one third shareholder in TCS since 1998 along with partners DP World and AB Ports. TCS is located within the Port of Tilbury, which is wholly owned by Forth Ports. [14] [15]
In October 2019, 39 people were found dead in a truck at nearby Grays. The truck was moved to the Port of Tilbury the next day, so that more investigations could be undertaken. After that, the bodies were moved to Broomfield Hospital. [16] [17]
Port of Tilbury recently announced a joint development with Tarmac, a partnership which will see the UK's largest construction materials aggregates terminal (CMAT) built on a 152-acre site. The joint development of the CMAT is expected to see most operations established by the end of 2020. [18]
One of the shipping lines using the docks was the P&O. Tilbury became the only port in the PLA to serve ocean liners, when, in 1916, it opened berths specifically for the P&O within the dock complex. With the need for expanded facilities, a large new passenger landing stage was constructed in the Thames jointly by the PLA and the London Midland and Scottish Railway, with rail connections. It was opened in May 1930 by Ramsay MacDonald. [19]
Tilbury operated as London's passenger liner passenger terminal until the 1960s. For many people Tilbury was their point of emigration to Australia under an assisted passage scheme established and operated by the Australian Government. The 'Ten Pound Poms' as they were known in Australia, embarked on to ships such as RMS Mooltan and set off for a new life. At the end of the second world war Displaced People (DP's) from the Baltic Countries who were in camps in Germany began to arrive. The first of these came to Tilbury in 1946. These were over 1000 Baltic women who were recruited under a British government scheme named 'Balt Cygnets'.These women would work in hospitals and TB sanatoria. The ship on which they travelled-the Empire Halladale was used to transport British Military families from Tilbury in 1946 under Operation Union to Germany. They would join serving soldiers of the British Army of the Rhine. [20]
Tilbury was also a port of entry for many immigrants; among them being a large group of West Indians on HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. [21] [22]
The passenger landing stage was reopened by the Port of Tilbury group, as the London Cruise Terminal in 1995. [23] The historic passenger terminal building has been rebuilt and refurbished over the subsequent years and is now called the "London International Cruise Terminal". The old station building (no longer served by a railway connection) has been refurbished to house a new luggage retrieval hall. [24]
The Port of Tilbury Police, among the oldest of such forces in the UK, are responsible for the security of the Port. [25]
The port is also a base of operations of Thurrock Sea Cadets, who operate out of TS Iveston (a Coniston class former minesweeper). [26]
Seafarers welfare charity, Apostleship of the Sea, which provides practical and pastoral support to seafarers, has a port chaplain based at the port. [27]
The Port of Tilbury had a rail connection of what was the London Tilbury and Southend Railway's (LT&SR) main line to Southend and Tilbury. This was located at Tilbury North Junction which lay between Grays and Tilbury Dock and opened on the same day as the docks - 17 April 1886. [28]
The connection passed through a pair of high security gates and then fanned out into a series of exchange sidings which were controlled by a dock company signal box. When the docks were being built the contractors had laid a number of railway lines which formed the basis of the dock system. On opening some of the contractors locomotives were purchased by the London and St Katharine Dock Company.
A second rail connection was provided from Tilbury to a station called Tilbury Tidal Basin which opened on 17 April 1886 by the London and St Katharine Dock Company. This could also be reached via the Tilbury North Junction and a line via the east side of the docks. Its only passenger services were boat trains connecting with liners using the basin. The service was not successful and after December 1906 passenger traffic instead ran to Tilbury Riverside. The station was then used for goods traffic. [29]
In the early years goods traffic was low which was a disappointment for the LT&SR board who had been hoping the docks would be a big boost to its income.
Boat trains from Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street and later St Pancras all worked into the port area via the Tilbury North connection and would work through to the relevant transit shed all of which were equipped with passenger platforms. In the early years the dock company locomotives would work these but it was felt it was easier to work the main line engines with a dock company pilot driver. [30]
15 May 1927 saw the commencement of an LMS boat train service to Tilbury Marine railway station which was on the site of the old Tidal Basin station. The service offered one through train from London to Dunkirk each way with connecting coaches to Manchester and Bradford. Traffic was reasonable in the summer but poor in the winter and it was decided to withdraw the service with the last train running on 30 April 1932 and the Tilbury Marine closing the following day. It opened on 15 May 1927 and closed on 1 May 1932. [31]
In 1957 a new station called No. 1 Berth Passenger Terminal was opened with a terminal building. The Orient Line was the main user of the terminal and started operated in June 1957. Unfortunately the rise of air travel saw this facility little used and it fell into disuse. [32]
By the 1960s traditional traffic to the docks was in decline and the Port of London Authority were looking to convert the docks to container operation. A rail connected container terminal was built by the reception sidings and that opened in April 1968. A grain terminal was opened in the docks called Northfleet Hope in 1969 and the container berths were rail served. [33]
A three road engine shed was built in 1886 and was where the dock systems locomotives were maintained. It was located south of the exchange sidings and close to Tilbury Dock station. [34] The brick built shed had been built on marshy ground and by 1935 had to be rebuilt. [35] [36]
When the docks opened in 1886, six contractors locomotives were taken over by the docks committee consisting of four Manning Wardle and two Hunslet steam locomotives. All were 0-6-0ST locomotives. These were withdrawn between 1904 and 1917 with some being scrapped and others being sold for further use. [37]
The next four locomotives were also 0-6-0STs this time produced by Robert Stephenson and Company which were introduced between 1901 and 1907 and scrapped between 1934 and 1938. Two of these were scrapped and two of these sold. [38]
After the PLA took over, one Hunslet (purchased 1911) and three Hudswell Clarke locomotives which were purchased in 1915. During World War II the Hunslet and one of the Hudswell Clarke locomotives worked on the Manchester Ship Canal railway system returning in 1946. The Hunslet was withdrawn in 1952 and the Hudswell Clarkes in 1954 and 1959. [39]
Further new steam engines bought for the dock were two Hawthorn Leslie 0-6-0Ts which were introduced in 1922 and worked until 1956 and 1960. [40] World War II saw two Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0STs owned by the War Department working at Tilbury and these were introduced in 1944 and purchased by the PLA in 1947. Both lasted until 1960 and were sold to the National Coal Board for use at Ashington Colliery in Northumberland.
As late as 1954 the PLA purchased two further Hudswell Clark 0-6-0Ts but dieselisation at Tilbury saw them transferred to other PLA docks before withdrawal and scrapping in 1963. [41]
The PLA chose diesel locomotives made by the Yorkshire Engine Company (YEC) to replace the aging steam fleet at Tilbury during 1959/60. These consisted of six Janus class 0-6-0 shunters and 3 other YEC shunters. The first arrived in October 1959 and all were withdrawn when the PLA stopped working rail traffic in 1970. All were sold onto other industrial users and with one exception have since been scrapped. One of the Janus locomotive survives and in 2011 was reported stored at Emborough Quarries. [42] However it has since been reported at a scrap yard in Attercliffe where it is a spares donor for a sister locomotive.
The Docks were used as the setting of John Wayne's smuggler-busting operation in Brannigan (1975). [43] The Docks stood in for Venetian waterways during the boat-chase scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). [44]
A scene from the Jude Law film Alfie (2004) was filmed there; [45] as were scenes from Batman Begins (2005). [46] In Paddington (2014), the scene where Paddington arrives on a boat was filmed at the Port of Tilbury. [47] Star Wars Solo filmed at London Container Terminal and Grain Terminal
Thurrock is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames immediately east of London and has over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront including the Port of Tilbury, the principal port for London. Thurrock is within the London commuter belt and is an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The borough includes the northern ends of the Dartford Crossing.
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary with the North Sea and including any associated docks. Once the largest port in the world, it was the United Kingdom's largest port as of 2020. Usage is largely governed by the Port of London Authority ("PLA"), a public trust established in 1908; while mainly responsible for coordination and enforcement of activities it also has some minor operations of its own.
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its continuation. It maintains and supervises navigation, and protects the river's environment.
Custom House is an interchange station by the Royal Docks, in Custom House in the London Borough of Newham, London for Docklands Light Railway (DLR) – on which it is branded Custom House for ExCeL – and Elizabeth line services. It is situated in Travelcard Zone 3.
Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry. Tilbury is part of the Port of London with a major deep-water port which contributes to the local economy. Situated 24 miles (38.5 km) east of central London and 23 miles (37 km) southwest of Southend-on-Sea, it is the southernmost point in Essex.
The London, Tilbury and Southend line, also known as Essex Thameside, is a commuter railway line on the British railway system. It connects Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including Barking, Upminster, Basildon, Grays, Tilbury, Southend and Shoeburyness.
Grays railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line serving the town of Grays, Essex. It is 19 miles 70 chains (32.0 km) down the line from London Fenchurch Street via Rainham and is located at the junction where a branch line from Upminster via Ockendon re-joins the route from Rainham. Its three-letter station code is GRY.
Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England.
The Romford–Upminster line is a railway line in Greater London that connects Romford, on the Elizabeth line and Great Eastern Main Line, to Upminster, on the London, Tilbury and Southend line and London Underground. The route is 3 miles 28 chains (5.4 km) in length and there is one intermediate station at Emerson Park which is located 1 mile 62 chains (2.9 km) from Romford. The line is part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.09, and is classified as a rural line.
Tilbury Town railway station is on a loop line of the London, Tilbury and Southend line, serving the town of Tilbury, Essex. It is 21 miles 48 chains (34.8 km) down the line from London Fenchurch Street via Rainham and it is situated between Grays and East Tilbury. Its three-letter station code is TIL.
Tilbury Riverside railway station is a closed railway station located in the town of Tilbury in the borough and unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, south of a triangular junction on the railway between Tilbury Town and East Tilbury. The station was 22 miles 46 chains (36.33 km) down the line from London Fenchurch Street station via Rainham.
The Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry was a passenger ferry across the River Thames east of London. It was the last public crossing point before the Thames reached the sea.
The Corringham Light Railway (CLR) in Corringham, Essex, England was incorporated on 10 July 1899 and opened to freight on 1 January 1901, to passengers on 22 June 1901. It closed to passengers on 1 March 1952 and was absorbed into the Mobil Oil Company on 20 September 1971. The railway itself went from an end on junction with the London Tilbury and Southend Railway at Thames Haven to both Corringham and Kynochtown.
Gallions was the name of two distinct railway stations that adjoined the River Thames by Gallions Reach in Beckton, east London.
Ebbsfleet River in Kent, south-east England, is a tributary of the Thames Estuary. It joins the Thames at Northfleet, opposite the container port of Tilbury Docks. Today, the river gives its name to the Ebbsfleet Garden City, which is currently (2020) being developed in and around the course of the Ebbsfleet.
DP World London Gateway is a port within the wider Port of London, on the north bank of the River Thames in Thurrock, Essex. Opened in November 2013, the site is a fully integrated logistics facility, consisting of a semi-automated deep-sea container terminal which is on the same site as a land bank for the development of warehousing, distribution facilities, and ancillary logistics services.
The South African Railways Dock Shunter 0-4-0ST of 1903 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including Barking, Upminster, Grays, Tilbury, Southend and Shoeburyness. The company and its assets were sold to the Midland Railway in 1912. The network over which they operated is largely intact and is currently operated as part of the Essex Thameside franchise.
Thames Haven Railway Station is a freight terminal on the coast of Essex, England. It is the terminus of the goods-only Thames Haven branch.
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