Forth Ports- owned London Container Terminal (LCT) has reached an agreement with MSC Geneva and Zeta System to establish a new feeder service linking the east coast of the United Kingdom with the Port of Rotterdam.
The new weekly UK East Coast Feeder Service will see shipping line MSC work alongside feeder ship company BG Freight to call at the ports of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Grangemouth on the Forth, Immingham on the River Humber, the Port of Felixstowe, and LCT’s base of operations – Tilbury on Thames.
Consumer goods from Italy, including domestic cooking oils and lager, will be among the goods initially transported on the service, but it is hoped that the facilities will attract new customers once the route is fully established.
Zeta System will provide 45-foot containers exclusively for use on the service.
Speaking to the Loadstar, Perry Gladding, chief operating officer at Forth Ports, who own LCT, said “We are thrilled to welcome this new service to London Container Terminal. We have a strong relationship with MSC, Zeta and BG Freight and it’s great to be working on this collaboration service.”
“This is good news for the port of Tilbury and for our sister port in Grangemouth – Scotland’s largest container terminal. By using our strategically placed ports, our warehousing facilities and our coastal shipping experience we are able to bring many benefits including delivered an environmental benefit by using shipping rather than road miles.”
“This new service complements our Portcentric objectives at the port of Tilbury. We have invested significantly in London Container Terminal, and we will continue to upgrade the site and equipment as we work to integrate container handling across both the deepsea and shortsea operations.
“Tilbury is a key shipping and distribution location with unrivalled access to London and the South East of England and this investment further secures this position.”
