NFT and Tilbury to open specialist refrigerated distribution centre at London's major port

Forth Ports Limited, one the UK’s largest ports groups, announces today (23 March) the construction of a £20million state-of-the art temperature-controlled distribution centre at the Port of Tilbury in partnership with NFT Distribution, the company said in its press release.
 
The centre, planned to open in late 2015, is a long-term partnership investment with NFT - the UK’s market leader in chilled food distribution - to create a unique PortCentric distribution centre which will be one of the largest refrigerated (“reefer”) quayside facilities in Europe. The distribution centre will benefit from the latest distribution technology systems and is expected to create 500 new jobs
 
The new centre, which will see an investment of over £20million, takes PortCentric to another level with NFT’s major customers benefiting from a complete integration with the wider port operations at Tilbury and London Container Terminal (LCT). The 230,000sq.ft. building, will be located within the port estate adjacent to the LCT which handles over 500,000 containers each year.
 
As one of the largest reefer facilities in Europe with over 1400 points and onsite examination services for customs clearance, LCT has excellent value added services 24/7 which will provide the perfect synergy with NFT’s modern system controlled chilled facility. LCT also benefits from a mix of global deep sea, and European feedering and short sea links which already carry a multitude of chilled goods through the terminal.
 
The distribution centre is targeted to be open for business by late 2015. It will have capacity for 25,000 pallets within 230,000 sq ft. and be able to handle more than 2.5 million cases per week. NFT’s research identifies this facility will create value and efficiencies in the supply chain and make a considerable contribution towards inimizing food miles.