Port Of London, United Kingdom

The Port of London surrounds the River Thames in southeastern England about 80 kilometers upstream from the North Sea. About 100 kilometers northeast of the Port of Southampton and 75 kilometers north of the English Channel, the Port of London is over 220 kilometers north of the Port of Le Havre, France's second busiest port.

The Port of London is the United Kingdom's capital and largest city. One of the world's greatest cities, the Port of London is the political, cultural, financial, and industrial center of the country and the former British Empire. Greater London covers an area of 1706 square kilometers and consists of 33 boroughs. In 2006, over 7.5 million people lived in Greater London.

The Port of London has been vital to the city's economy since the country's Saxon era. It is a global center for international business and commerce. Considered one of three linchpins of the world economy (with New York and Tokyo), PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that in 2005, the Port of London possessed the world's sixth largest and Europe's second largest city economy.

A city of this size and scope has no single dominating economic sector. Certainly, the Port of London's economy rests largely on its financial industry. Over half of the United Kingdom's and more than 100 of the 500 largest companies in Europe have headquarters in central London. Services, science, and research are all playing increasingly more important roles in the city's economy. Tourism is a major industrial sector for the Port of London, employing about 350 thousand full-time workers and attracting more than 15.6 million foreign tourists in 2006

The Port of London Authority is a self-financing public trust responsible for assuring safety of navigation on the Tidal Thames, promoting the use of the river, and protecting the Port of London environment.
The Port of London Authority is responsible for 135 kilometers miles of the River Thames. It maintains river channels and provides a variety of shipping services. Today, the Port of London handles 12.5 thousand commercial vessels and more than 53 million tons of cargo a year including forest and oil and petroleum products, vehicles, sugar, cereals, edible oils and fats, animal feedstuffs, steel and other metals, fertilizers, chemicals, cement, metals, and containerized refuse.

In 2005, the Port of London handled 53.8 million tons of cargo, including 45 million tons of imports and 8.8 million tons of exports. Containerized cargoes in a total of 1704 TEUs included 948 thousand TEUs of imports and 756 TEUs of exports.Port of London cargoes included oil, crude, and petroleum products (19.3 million tons); containers and trailers (14.6 million tons); aggregate (7.9 million tons);other cargoes (5 million tons); coal (2.5 million tons); forest products (2 milliontons); metals (1.5 million tons); and cereals (1 million tons).

The Port of Tilbury, which is part of the Port of London, is England's third biggest container-handling port, handling more than 4 million tons a year. Important facilities in the Port of London-Tilbury include the world's biggest sugar cane refinery, an oil refinery with capacity of 10 million tons, the largest sea-dredged aggregates terminal in Europe, Ford's Dagenham logistics terminal, and CMDR's Ferry Terminals that take trucks and trailers to and from the European continent.

The Port of London includes wharves and terminals that stretch the length of the River Thames from Fulham to Canvey Island near the mouth of the river as it enters the Thames Estuary. Most of the Port of London facilities are concentrated between the Thames Barrier and Tilbury.

Four terminals or wharves in the Port of London handle cereal cargoes that include animal feeds, cereals, and grains. Chilled produce is handled at two wharves. Two terminals in the Port of London-Tilbury handle chilled produce. The Port of London has nine container terminals, seven of them in Tilbury.

Almost 65 terminals or wharves in the Port of London handle dry bulk cargoes that include aggregates (including marine aggregates, sea-dredged aggregates, and bulk aggregate products), scrap metals, coal, bulk powders, sub-base Type 1 materials, cement, bottom furnace ash, bulk animal feeds, cement clinker, chemicals, explosives, fertilizers, granulated slag, oilseed, petroleum coke, phosphoric slag, plant and machinery, salt, sugar, and waste paper.


Forest products are handled at 15 Port of London facilities. Forest products include newsprint, reels of paper, wood pulp, timber, and timber products. Five locations handle general cargoes. Three facilities in the Port of London-Tilbury handle heavy-lift cargoes. The TDG Temperature-Controlled Service in Tilbury handles frozen produce.

Liquid bulk products are handled by 39 facilities in the Port of London. Liquid bulk cargoes include petroleum products, edible vegetable oils, aviation fuel, lubricants, chemicals, bitumen, liquid petroleum gas, residual fuel oil, gas oil, crude oil, agricultural products, demineralized water, liquid fertilizers, solvents, and waxes.

Five Port of London facilities handle motor vehicles and trailers, and two facilities handle project cargoes. Ten terminals or wharves in the Port of London handle steel products that include flat rolled products, non-ferrous metals, steel, steel coils, and steel reinforcement products.

The Port of London contains 11 public ship tiers and moorings, six of which serve cruise terminals. The George's Stairs Tier handles accommodate ships of 71 meters in length with maximum draft of 5.3 meters. The E. Woolwich Upper Tier handles vessels to 113 meters in length with maximum draft of 7.1 meters; the E. Woolwich Middle Tier can accommodate ships of 103 meters in length with maximum draft of 4.5 meters; and the E. Woolwich Lower Tier can accommodate vessels to 100 meters in length with maximum draft of 4.9 meters.
The Port of London's Thamesmead Tier handles ships up to 100 meters in length with maximum draft of 5.6 meters. The Erith Swing Mooring can accommodate ships to 122 meters long with maximum draft of 6.9 meters. The Greenhithe Swing Mooring handles vessels to 94 meters long with maximum draft of 6.5 meters, and the Denton Small Ship Mooring can accommodate ships of 82 meters in length with maximum draft of 5.7 meters. The Port of London Cruise Terminal at Tilbury is located at Gravesend Reach 25 miles from Central London. The landing stage is 348 meters long.

The Port of London's Cruise terminals include the Tower Bridge Upper Mooring, located 400 meters upstream of the Tower Bridge, which can accommodate ships of 158 meters in length with minimum water depth of 5.9. At 500 meters downstream from the Tower Bridge, the Tower Bridge Lower Mooring has capacity for vessels up to 160 meters long with minimum water depth of 5.5 meters. The Greenwich Tier, located four nautical miles downstream of the Tower Bridge, can accommodate ships of from 128 to 208 meters in length with maximum draft of 8 meters. The "Welcome" Floating Terminal serves the Tower Bridge Lower and Greenwich Tier Moorings. The London Cruise Terminal at Tilbury is located at Gravesend Reach 25 miles from Central London. The landing stage is 348 meters long.

The Port of London is one of the world's favorite cruise destinations, and the entire range of cruise package types are available through the port. "The Welcome," a floating terminal welcomes cruises with complete facilities. Its layout resembles those of airports, and it includes the latest security. Including The Welcome, the Port of London offers five passenger terminals. The PLA is coordinating cruise ship landings to provide complete tourist services during the 2012 Summer Olympics.