Port of London - The Port Today

The Port Today

See also: List of locations in the Port of London

The Port of London today comprises over 70 independently owned terminals and port facilities, directly employing over 30,000 people. These are mainly concentrated at Purfleet (with the world's largest margarine works), Thurrock, Tilbury (the Port's current main container facility), Coryton and Canvey Island in Essex, Dartford and Northfleet in Kent, and Greenwich, Silvertown, Barking, Dagenham and Erith in Greater London.

In 2007 London was the second largest port in the United Kingdom by tonnage handled (52.7 million), after Grimsby and Immingham (66.3 million). Tees and Hartlepool was the UK's third largest port in 2007 and has a similar annual tonnage handled as London (in 2006 a slightly greater tonnage was handled in Tees and Hartlepool than at London). The Port of London however handles the most non-fuel cargo of any port in the UK (at 32.2 million tonnes in 2007). Other major rival ports to London in the country are Felixstowe and Southampton, which handle the most and second-most number of containers of British ports.

The number of twenty-foot equivalent units of containers handled by the Port of London exceeded 2 million in 2007 for the first time in the Port's history and this continued in 2008. The Port's capacity in handling modern, large ships and containers is set to dramatically expand with the completion of the London Gateway port project, which will be able to handle up to 3.5 million TEUs per year when fully completed.

With around 12,500 commercial shipping movements annually, the Port of London handles around 10% of the UK commercial shipping trade, and contributes 8.5 billion pounds to the UK's economy. In addition to cargo, 37 cruise ships visited the Port in 2008.

Although the Kent (BP) and Shell Haven (Shell) refineries closed in 1982 and 1999, Coryton remains in production. A number of upstream wharves remain in use. At Silvertown for example Tate & Lyle continues to operate the world's largest cane sugar refinery, originally served by the West India Docks but now with its own cargo handling facilities. Many wharves as far upstream as Fulham are used for the handling of aggregates brought by barge from facilities down river. Riverside sites in London are under intense pressure for prestige housing or office development, and as a consequence the Greater London Authority in consultation with the PLA has implemented a plan to safeguard 50 wharves within Greater London, half above and half below the Thames Barrier.