20.10.2014
OPDR extends service at Tilbury's London Container Terminal
London Container Terminal in Tilbury announces today (20th October) an extension to their agreement with short-sea shipping and logistics specialists Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei (OPDR), which sees OPDR’s new liner service from Agadir, Morocco calling at the Port of Tilbury for five transit days.
London Container Terminal (LCT) currently handles over 200 calls per annum for OPDR services on their routes between the Iberian Peninsula including the Canary Islands, North Africa and the UK, as announced in November 2013. OPDR’s newly established subsidiary, ‘OPDR Maroc’, headquartered in Casablanca, has opened an office in Agadir to support the newly launched service connection by OPDR from Agadir to the North Continent.
OPDR’s ‘Argan Express’ service offers short transit times to South and Northern Europe. OPDR will employ three 700 TEU vessels which provide space for up to 120 reefer containers on this weekly service.
Commenting on the announcement, Perry Glading, Chief Operating Officer of Forth Ports (owners of London Container Terminal) said: “We are thrilled to be growing our relationship with OPDR, whom we have worked with over the past year, with this additional call from Agadir, Morocco. LCT has the perfect shipping location for OPDR’s services, with a sophisticated supply chain infrastructure and fast and reliable connections. We have the experience, expertise and equipment to deliver a first rate service and we continue to invest significantly in LCT, as we work to integrate container handling across both the deep sea and short sea operations, further securing Tilbury as a key shipping and distribution location with unrivalled access to London and the South East of England.”
“The new express service is especially designed for perishable cargo – such as tomatoes and citrus fruits – from Agadir to the UK market”, says Till Ole Barrelet, Chief Executive Officer of the OPDR Group. “We are happy to have LCT as a partner with fast connections to the metropolitan area of London and beyond.”
LCT handles in excess of half a million containers per year, and is the only UK port truly servicing both deep sea and short sea customers.
Media enquiries:
London Container Terminal / Forth Ports:
Debbie Johnston, Spreng & Co, +44 141 548 5191 / +44 7532 183811 / [email protected]
OPDR:
Sonja Objartel, Corporate Communications, 040 / 36 15 8 – 122 / [email protected]
Notes to editors:
About OPDR
- The Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei (OPDR) has offered transport solutions within Europe as well as to and from Africa for over 130 years.
- As a Logistics Company OPDR today offers tailor-made integrated supply chain solutions. A state-of-the-art vessel and container fleet as well as a strong network in more than 20 European, North and West African countries ensure high standards of reliability and quality.
- OPDR is headquartered in Hamburg and employs over 300 staff on shore as well as at sea. The OPDR Group founded its daughter company OPDR Maroc in January 2014.
- www.opdr.com
About London Container Terminal
- Forth Ports acquired fully Tilbury Container Terminal in January 2012, having bought out then joint owners DP World and Associated British Ports. Now rebranded as London Container Terminal, it is the UK’s third largest container port. The deep-sea terminal is located on the Thames and is a key shipping and distribution location with unrivalled access to London and the South East. It is a busy terminal, handling around 320,000 containers last year, an increase of 2.4% from 2010, and has a strong trading position with the North/South reefer trades primarily South America and South Africa and has strong links with a number of other deep sea trades. The Port of Tilbury also runs a successful short sea business which handled around 130,000 containers in 2011, up 7.6% from 2010. The short sea business provides regular links to Continental Europe and to other UK coastal feeder locations.
- The upgrading of the existing facilities at the Port of Tilbury and LCT are part of a larger project involving significant investment to ensure customers receive the best service possible.
- www.londoncontainerterminal.co.uk
About Forth Ports
- Forth Ports Limited owns and operates eight commercial ports in the UK – Tilbury on the Thames, Dundee on the Firth of Tay and six on the Firth of Forth – Leith, Grangemouth, Rosyth, Methil, Burntisland and Kirkcaldy. It also has a business, Nordic, which operates out of Chatham in Kent and Tilbury, which is engaged in port activities and recycling.
- www.forthports.co.uk
