TWO years after a major fire at the site, the Port of Tilbury's grain terminal has completed major construction works with the commissioning of ten, 30 metre tall, steel silos and a flat store with a combined storage capacity of 36,000 tonnes.

The fire at the grain terminal in July 2020 damaged the silo tower and other equipment and featured a dramatic explosion at its start. No-one was injured in the incident.

The new metal silos will be filled and emptied using a new 650 tonne per hour transfer conveyor system. The conveyor also serves as an automated filling system for the 16,000 tonne flat store which has a direct delivery system to two customer flour mill sites.

Once fully operational next month (September), the combined silo and flat store facility returns the terminal's total on site storage to 100,000 tonnes.

The terminal fire in 2020.

Works are also under way to replace the concrete silo and this is due for completion in December 2023. The new concrete silo will add a further 34,000 tonnes of automated storage, underpinning the grain terminal as the UKs largest import/export grain handling facility.

The port's commerical director Peter Ward said: "We are extremely pleased to start the commissioning of our new metal silos and high-speed conveyor system. Coupled with the construction of the concrete silo, the grain terminal will be back to full capacity on one site this year.

"Our terminal is a key facility in the South-East of England and an essential part of the UK agricultural supply chain for imports and exports and benefits from the full multimodal services at the Port of Tilbury including river barge transportation into central London."

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The Tilbury terminal has been in operation for more than 50 years and is a key strategic facility in the South-East of the UK for the grain import and export markets handling over two million tonnes of product from around the world. The terminal also operates a monthly coastal shipping service from Tilbury to its sister port in Kirkcaldy, Scotland for Carr's Milling.