WITH significant expansion due in the coming months and years, new figures have recently confirmed that the two Thurrock ports on the Thames estuary come together to be the UK's container port operations.

DP World London Gateway on the river near Corringham and Stanford-le-Hope and the Port of Tilbury's container terminal between them handled 3.7 million containers, or 20-foot-equivalent units, last year.

That figure surpassed the previous leading port operation at Felixstowe, which recorded 3.6 million containers. The Suffolk port had been the UK's busiest container location for 45 years.

And the gap is likely to get wider going forwards. Two giant cranes are currently on their way to London Gateway from China and when installed after arrival at the end of this month or in early October, the port's Berth Five will be in operation – further expanding capacity.

And plans are being drawn up for a future Berth Six, though that will mainly be a contingency facility.

While container transport is confined largely to a riverside berth facility at Tilbury, the Forth Ports site capacity as a group is also rapidly expanding with plans in the pipeline to open Tilbury 3 and Tilbury Four sites in the future.

Both London Gateway and Tilbury have invested in rail transport facilities to take some of the increased traffic off the roads.

In October 2024 Thurrock Nub News reported on the opening of a new rail terminal operation at the Tilbury 2 port – and increased rail links from London Gateway.

That commitment to rail freight continues, particularly at London Gateway where increased traffic has been boosted by the arrival at the port of new Class 99 freight locomotives, run by GBRF. The class 99 is the UK's most advanced hybrid locomotive, combining electric capability with sustainable HVO fuel, delivering higher performance and the ability to operate across both electric and non-electric routes.

The increase in rail traffic was highlighted recently by Mark French, senior manager operations (landslide) at the port.

Substantially more than 200,000 containers had already been moved by the end of June this year – more than the whole of 2024.

Mr French said: "The achievement reflects the commitment and collaboration of operational teams, rail partners and customers, while demonstrating growing market confidence in rail as a reliable, scalable and sustainable transport solution."

With their new status as the UK's biggest port area now confirmed through recent data from Lloyd's of London, the standard reference for the shipping industry, Tilbury and London Gateway are also looking for further expansion as they work, together with CLdN London Purfleet (the borough's third port further along the Thames), as part of the Thames Freeport economic zone. Together with Ford and Thurrock Council, London Gateway and the Port of Tilbury make up the four strategic partners in the Freeport.

While London Gateway is partnered statistically with the Port of Tilbury in Lloyds' latest listing, it may not be long before it stands as the UK's biggest individual container port, unshackling Felixstowe's final table-topping position.

Last year, London Gateway managed more than three million containers on its own. The opening of its £350m Berth Four in November 2024 led to the port increasing its throughput by a third in a year.

Despite the growth, and to put UK container freight in context, globally, both the Thames ports and Felixstowe are minor players, ranking 61st and 62nd in Lloyd's report.

British ports are roughly a quarter the size of Europe's largest terminal, Rotterdam, ranked 12th globally. In contrast, Rotterdam measures only a quarter the size of the world's largest port, Shanghai, which processed 55 million containers last year. While Singapore ranks as the second largest worldwide, six of the top ten global ports are Chinese, with Dubai's Jebel Ali—a sister port to London Gateway—emerging as the highest-ranked terminal outside Asia, at No. 9.

If there is one potential sticking point in the growth of local container freight, it is the capacity of the rail link from London Gateway to the west and mainline network, which is limited by the amount of traffic that can pass through the level crossings at East Tilbury.

A bridge over the northern crossing on Princess Margaret Road has been talked about for years - and supposedly moved nearer with the granting of planning permission for more than 1,000 new homes at East Tilbury and Linford.

A bridge was very much part of the agreement between developers and Thurrock Council - but little has happened since and sceptics believe the developers will not fulfill their side of the deal - while Thurrock Council is becoming increasingly blamed for not taking a stronger line. The council has long been an advocate for a new bridge - but critics say it has 'talked the talk' but not 'walked the walk' on delivering it.

DP World London Gateway has made firm commitments to contribute to the bridge costs and is ramping up pressure for something to happen. Sources within the port told Thurrock Nub News there is increasing frustration by DP World at the lack of support and progress on the issue and it is likely to come to the forefront of talks when Thames Freeport starts to stretch its muscles.