P&O Ferries to move to a new berth in Tilbury

Photo: Port of Tilbury

The ferry company has reached an agreement with Forth Ports to move to a purpose-built £150m river berth on the Thames at Forth’s Port of Tilbury.

According to a joint press release, the new facility will treble P&O's freight capacity to 600k cargo units/year by 2020.

The new terminal will be built subject to planning permission. An application for a development consent order for Tilbury2 was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in October 2017. Tilbury2 intends to build on a 152 acre site, which was part of the former Tilbury Power Station, and will include a new deep water jetty in the river Thames.

"The river berth will enable us to cut our crossing time by one hour to seven hours, meaning that our customers will be discharged an hour earlier at 5am, enabling them to bypass the morning rush hour on the M25. The punctuality and reliability of the quay to quay service will be further enhanced by no longer having to negotiate a lock to exit the port," Janette Bell, Chief Executive, P&O Ferries, said.

Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive, Forth Ports, added, "As we prepare for the examination of our development consent order for Tilbury2, this new long-term partnership with P&O Ferries provides a strong economic and market underpinning of our intended development plans to grow UK trade and create further employment opportunities within Tilbury."