Thames flyover

The Thurrock Unitary Council area has 18 miles of Thames river frontage adjacent to which much of its industrial and commercial sites are located.

At the BP Coryton site, shown in the foreground, crude oil is pumped ashore from ships to storage tanks before being refined. Next to this site is the Shell refinery which ceased main operations in 1999 and has been largely demolished in readiness for a £1.5 billion port and business park proposal. The government has announced conditional approval for an international container port, plus roll on, roll off facilities, together with proposals to develop a 900,000 square meter business park. The business park could accommodate the largest distribution buildings currently demanded by the retail and logistics sector.

The docks, seen here at the Port of Tilbury, were originally hand dug in Victorian times. The Freeport occupies a site of 335 hectares or the equivalent of 2,500 football pitches and employs 650 staff with other tenants employing another 3,000 people. The Port provides a vital multi modal facility next to London for motorway, rail and river linkages. It is a world-class port specialising in forest products, paper imports and containers. The jetty, seen in the foreground, connects to the multi storey grain terminal, the largest grain terminal in the UK, with shipping routes to the USA, Australia, Africa and the Far East.

Located to the right of the QE2 Bridge is the Vopak terminal with an annual throughput of petrol and chemicals, which if put into 2 litre cola bottles and placed end to end would stretch around the world 19 times.

After flying over the QE2 Bridge Unilever UK Foods have their margarine and spreads manufacturing site located in Purfleet. A manufacturing plant has been present on the site since 1918; it now produces Flora, Bertolli, Stork and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Over a million tubs of Flora are produced every day.

Lastly the video shows a Cobelfreight ship departing from the Purfleet Thames Terminals. The terminal specialises in the transportation of vehicles and containers with daily links with Zeebrugge and Rotterdam.

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