The move is expected to satisfy the high street retailer’s long-standing requirement for a new south-east depot.

The new deep water port at London Gateway is due to open in later this year.

The announcement comes as the rival Port of Tilbury beefs up its logistics property offer.

Transport minister Stephen Hammond is due to visit the site today Tuesday (21st May) to mark the start of construction at the 70-acre London Development Park.

The development will bring more than 940,000 sq. ft. of new high quality distribution facilities including high quality warehousing and 17 acres of haulage facilities to Tilbury.

For further news on logisitics go to: www.shdlogistics.com.

Captain Exley joined the Board last week and will work with the organisation to achieve its goal to develop a sustainable tourism offering for the future, identify new markets and harness visitors at the county’s major gateways of Stansted, Harwich, Southend and Tilbury.

Commenting on his appointment Captain Exley said: “I am delighted to have been invited to join the Board of Visit Essex. In my role as Cruise Manager at Tilbury, I am working to attract tourism back into the Thames and to Essex. The vast footfall through our terminals provides a boost to the local economy and this is something we are keen to improve year on year. There is a great opportunity for cruise guests to visit the many attractions within both Essex and London and in my new role with the Board, I will continue to develop this”.

Captain Exley’s role as Marine and Cruise Manager at the Essex Port sees him responsible for the redevelopment of the historic Grade II listed London Cruise Terminal, marketing this unique cruise facility on the Thames internationally and building the cruise business into Essex and London. He has recently returned from Florida where, Forth Ports in association with Cruise Britain, exhibited at the Cruise Shipping Miami Conference, with a view to attracting new business to the cruise terminal in London.

Essex Board Chairman George Kieffer said: “We are thrilled to welcome Richard onto the Board. His experience and current activities in the cruise tourism business will be a valuable asset to our Board’s activities.”

The Eastern European crew are still on board as discussions about the future of the ship and their future continue. Reports claim crew have not been paid since Christmas.

The crew have, however, had some relief thanks to the seafarers’ charities Apostleship of the Sea and German Seaman’s Mission who have stepped in to provide support and practical help.

As well as regularly visiting the crew, port chaplain, Deacon Paul Glock has brought them to the Tilbury seafarers’ centre where they can contact families and loved ones by phone or internet.

The recession has seen increasing numbers of ships laid up as companies hit difficulties. And in ports around the world port chaplains and volunteers of the Apostleship of the Sea have been providing practical help and support to the crews during this very stressful time.

Apostleship of the Sea provides both practical and spiritual support to seafarers in more than 250 ports around the world. This ranges from providing transport to shops to hospital visiting and mediating in disputes over pay and conditions.

Each turbine has a capacity of 2.3MW and the wind farm is capable of supplying up to 50% of the port’s electricity needs.

SSE Renewables Project Manager, Martin Sweeney, is delighted to see the turbines in place and generating clean, green electricity:

“Everyone involved in the project, the engineers on the ground, the planners and office staff have been working hard with their counterparts at the Port of Tilbury to ensure this project is a success, and so it’s fantastic to see the turbines now turning and generating electricity for the port.”

Perry Glading, Chief Operating Officer for Forth Ports (owner of Port of Tilbury), said:

“This is a significant milestone for the Port of Tilbury, demonstrating our continued drive to achieve sustainable clean environmental solutions in what is a key strategic port for the South East of the UK.”

Forth Ports and Goldstar Transport donated £1,000 each to the Essex Air Ambulance, which will go towards the maintenance of its state-of-the-art helicopter (MD902 Explorer) and essential equipment, as well as training for its air crew members and charity fundraisers.

Established in 1997, the Essex Air Ambulance launched in 1998 and is based at Earls Colne Airfield near Colchester, which means it is never more than eight minutes away from one of the major hospitals in Essex.

Perry Glading, Chief Operating at Forth Ports, owners of the Port of Tilbury said:
“Essex Air Ambulance is an extremely important and respected organisation, which Forth Ports is proud to support. It provides an outstanding service throughout the Essex area and offers vital emergency care should anyone ever need it. The highly skilled and dedicated team work incredibly hard and we’ll continue to support such a worthy organisation.”

Helena Morgan, Fundraising Manager at Essex Air Ambulance, said:

“We were delighted to have Forth Ports and Goldstar Transport visit the airfield and to receive such generous donations. It is a significant amount as it costs around £2,000 for each helicopter rescue operation. As we are a charity organisation, we work closely with the local community and businesses, who offer us a tremendous amount of on-going support to which we’re truly grateful.”

Pat Conn, General Manager at Goldstar Transport, said:
“Essex Air Ambulance is a worthy organisation, whose expert and committed team provide a fundamental service to the local Essex area. We’ll continue to demonstrate our support to the organisation to ensure it can carry on delivering its life-saving services.”

The 70-acre development received outline planning permission in 2012 and will bring more than 940,000 sq. ft. of new high quality distribution facilities. These will include high quality warehousing from 50,000 sq.ft. upwards and 17 acres of haulage facilities complementing the Port of Tilbury’s exclusive multimodal connectivity, including rail, port and barge services. The development is expected to bring up to 1100 jobs and secure the long term prosperity of the Essex Port.

LDP is the next phase of Tilbury’s continuing growth and expansion and follows a £95million investment in the London Container Terminal in 2012. The new development will be situated on the immediate outskirts of the Port with construction underway. Forth Ports, owner of the Port of Tilbury, and Roxhill Developments are joint-owners of the development and are working closely together in the delivery of the logistics park.

Perry Glading, Chief Operating Officer of Forth Ports, owners of the Port of Tilbury said:

“This new development offers unique, top quality facilities in a great location for easy access to the rest of the UK and beyond. This multi-million pound development is a further asset for our national and international customers who can take advantage of the Port’s excellent facilities in logistics and distribution. We have started work on site infrastructure with customers able to be operating from the site from early 2014.”

Jason Dalby, Managing Director at Roxhill Developments, said: “It’s not often that a development with such great benefits is available to the market.

The location, facilities and the connectivity will offer businesses a unique advantage. Our new website WWW.LONDONDISTRIBUTIONPARK.COM and marketing materials brings the unique offering at this development to life.”

The toothbrushes have been distributed by Paul Cave, the chaplain of the Lighthouse Seafarers Mission in Tilbury.

Paul said: “I would like to thank Procter and Gamble so much for the most generous donation in support of our welfare work to seafarers. The guys were most grateful for these gifts.

The photo shows some very happy Indonesian and Indian crews who had just berthed at the docks.

Working with Crimestoppers,Port of Tilbury, UK Border Force and Counter Terrorism Unit, all the organisations will target the transport industry to find out about criminal activity that may be occurring at the region’s ports.

The operation, known as Project Yali, will ask haulage companies to ring Crimestoppers and aims to provide a clear structure for the reporting of unusual activity or behaviour that is suspected to be linked with acts of terrorism or organised crime including drug smuggling and people trafficking.

Installation of the four turbines at the Port of Tilbury Wind Farm by SSE Renewables is now under way. Specialist engineers are constructing each of the turbines in stages, with this key part of the project due to last approximately two weeks. Each turbine will generate 2.3MW of electricity and, when complete, the wind farm will be able to provide up to 50% of the Port’s needs.

Perry Glading, Chief Operating Officer at Forth Ports (owner of The Port of Tilbury), said: “We’re pleased to see the four turbines starting to take shape at the Port of Tilbury. This wind farm demonstrates our commitment to the environment and further enhances our position as Britain’s Greenest Port. The team at SSE Renewables are doing a great job with the installation, with minimum interruption to daily activities at our busy port. We look forward to seeing the four turbines in place once they are completed, as this project is something we are very proud of.”

Martin Sweeney, SSE Renewables Project Manager, said: “Everyone involved has been working hard to make sure this project is a success, and so it’s really exciting to see the turbines starting to go up. Since the components started to arrive by ship in February, we have been working closely with the port to ensure that everything was in place for us to erect the turbines with the minimum amount of disruption to the rest of the businesses who are based on site. This part of the project will take approximately three weeks to complete, and so if the good weather conditions continue, we should have all four turbines in place around the middle of March.”

Rev Rey’s wife, Annie, has a passion for ships emanating from her childhood trips to Ireland from Holyhead and has always wanted to visit the port. When the Reverend contacted the port, Lynda Viccars, the Port of Tilbury’s Community Liaison Manager was only too happy to oblige.

On Monday, Annie was escorted around the 950 acre site where she was impressed by the vast scale of the port. Among other areas, Annie’s two hour tour included the lock, the London Container Terminal, which handles in excess of half a million containers per year and the London Cruise Terminal.

Annie was also shown the site where the new Port of Tilbury wind farm will be erected, which will further boost the port’s green credentials.

Annie commented: “I was fascinated by the operations at the lock and was amazed at the way containers were moved around by straddle carriers and reef stackers, some of which were then transported onto the train line which runs through the port. The port is so much bigger than I expected, and the logistics are far more complex than I ever envisaged.”

Lynda Viccars, Cruise Terminal & Community Liaison Manager, said: “The Port of Tilbury is a thriving and extremely busy port which limits the number of tours we’re able to accommodate but when we heard from the Reverend Rey about his wife’s wish to visit the port we were delighted to accommodate the trip. It’s great to welcome someone into our world who is truly interested in our operation. We wish Annie a very happy birthday.”

The company’s three main terminals in London (Tilbury), Edinburgh (Leith and Rosyth) are undergoing investment and improvements.

At Tilbury, plans are in motion to rebuild the cruise section of the Landing Stage and to double the size of the terminal with significant upgrading throughout, including a new lounge and improved WiFi. More details about the upgradal will be announced this spring.

Forth’s Scottish ports business recently invested in updating the facilities in Edinburgh, including refreshing the graphics and installing WiFi at one of its terminals, along with offering greeters to welcome passengers into the port.

Forth Ports enjoyed a busy 2012 cruise season with the Scottish ports welcoming 76 ships and 80,000 passengers; the Tilbury London terminal saw 35 home port calls, and had a footfall of almost 50,000 guests through the London International Cruise Terminal.

For a start, it was a lovely touch to have the ceremony on one of the cruise ships that was docked.

And there is a way that training and development manager, Simon Harper acknowledges the importance of each award and the hard work that each employee has undertaken.

Guest of honour was Thurrock MP, Jackie Doyle-Price who, in her speech, underlined the importance of the port to the Thurrock and UK economy.

Forth Ports, the owner of the Port of Tilbury, has sold a 50% share in the scheme to Roxhill.

The park is a 70 acre development close to the M25 with outline planning permission for up to 940,000 sq ft of industrial space.

Thurrock Council’s regeneration portfolio holder Cllr Andy Smith has welcomed the news that the Port of Tilbury has appointed a partner to help with the development of the London Distribution Park.

Speaking after the announcement that Roxhill Developments had joined with Forth Ports – owners of the Port of Tilbury – Cllr Smith said: “This is really tremendously good news to start the New Year with.

“Roxhill’s specialist expertise will help ensure the success of the distribution park which is a key aspect in the overall regeneration of Thurrock.

“The jobs this development will bring to our borough will help Thurrock grow into the logistics hub for the whole nation.

“2013 is a really important year for the borough.

“Today’s news, in conjunction with the knowledge that the first berth at London Gateway is expected to come on stream in the last few months of the year shows that Thurrock is really starting to fulfil its potential.”

The port was the largest of the two logistic centres for 2012 and stored a huge amount of sporting equipment as well as items and props used for the opening and closing ceremonies.

At a special presentation in the board room at Leslie Ford House in the port, Mick Wright, head of logistics for the London organising committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, told staff at the port how invaluable they were.

Chief executive officer for Forth Ports, Perry Glading spoke passionately about the honour the port felt in playing its part.