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northern expansion at tilbury
northern expansion at tilbury
Outline Planning Application for Port-related Uses
Economic Impact AssessmentApril 2010
Port of Tilbury London Limited Economic Impact Assessment 2010 Update Black
Port of Tilbury London Limited Economic Impact Assessment 2010 Update
March 2010
This report takes into account the
particular instructions and requirements
of our client.
It is not intended for and should not be
relied upon by any third party and no
responsibility is undertaken to any third
party
Ove Arup & Partners Ltd
13 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BQ
Tel +44 (0)20 7636 153775 www.arup.com Job number 212371
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Port of Tilbury London Limited Updated Economic Impact AssessmentDraft Report
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CONTENTS
Page
Executive Summary i
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Research method 1
1.3 Outline of this report 2
2 The Port of Tilbury 3
2.1 Profile of the Port 3
2.2 Major traffics 3
2.3 Relationship with key sectors 4
2.4 Recent expansion 5
2.5 Prospects for future growth at Tilbury 5
2.6 Masterplan for future expansion 8
2.7 Relationship of the Port of Tilbury to London Gateway 9
3 Policy Context 10
3.1 National policy 10
3.2 Regional policy 11
3.3 Local policy 12
3.4 Summary 14
4 Socio-Economic Baseline 15
4.1 Introduction 15
4.2 Sectoral trends in the local economy 15
4.3 Business development and enterprise 16
4.4 Labour market trends 17
4.5 Labour supply 20
4.6 Commuting patterns 21
4.7 Deprivation 21
4.8 Conclusions 25
5 Current Economic Impact of the Port 26
5.1 Overview 26
5.2 Employment 26
5.3 Income 28
5.4 Where workers at the Port live 28
5.5 The nature of employment at the Port 30
5.6 Summary 32
6 Impacts of Future Expansion of the Port 33
6.1 Overview 33
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6.2 Future requirements for land and premises at the Port 33
6.3 Potential impacts based on land for expansion 34
6.4 Potential impacts based on increase in traffic 35
6.5 The impact of constraining expansion 36
7 Wider Social and Economic Impacts of the Port 39
7.1 Overview 39
7.2 Facilitation of trade 39
7.3 Tilbury’s contribution to sustainable logistics and energy generation 39
7.4 Contribution to local workforce development 40
7.5 Use of the Port as a film location 41
8 Conclusions 42
Appendices
A1 Questionnaire for Postal Survey
A2 Topic Guide for Phone Interviews with Key Customers and Suppliers
A3 Survey Respondents
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Executive Summary
This report presents an economic impact assessment for the Port of Tilbury, assessing its
contribution to employment and income generation in Thurrock and the East of England region and
wider economic impacts. It is based on data provided by the Port of Tilbury London Limited
(POTLL), the results of a postal survey, selective interviews with other tenant firms and other
operators located within the Port boundary, and secondary information from a range of other
sources.
Port Operations at Tilbury
Tilbury is currently the largest port in the Thames Gateway and the UK’s third largest container port,
handling 13 million tonnes of cargo (including containerised cargo) and 849,000 Twenty Foot
Equivalent (TEU) container units in 2008. As well as containers, the port also handles paper, forest
products, grain and animal feed, bulk products, general cargo and ro-ro traffic, and cruise
passengers. Its markets are short sea traffic from the major European ports and North - South trade
with South Africa, South America, Australasia, and the Indian sub-continent.
The Port currently occupies a land area of 262 hectares (ha). It has undertaken significant land
reclamation and reorganisation of landholdings in recent years, adding 35 ha and expanding
undercover storage areas from 250,000 m2 to 480,000 m
2 between 1995 and 2008.
The Port of Tilbury and the forthcoming London Gateway complement each other rather than being
substitute ports. In particular, London Gateway will serve the new generation of extremely large
container ships calling at only one port in Europe. London Gateway’s automated loading system will
also make it unsuitable for the smaller container ships currently using Tilbury. Tilbury’s customers
are generally smaller and operating on tighter operating margins, and is unlikely to be able to afford
the higher level of charges at London Gateway.
The wider policy context
Policy at regional level identifies the need for major growth in employment in Thurrock, with a target
of 26,000 net additional jobs to be created during the period 2001 – 2021. It also highlights the need
to create local jobs for the local population to reduce out-commuting.
Regional policy also recognises the regional and nation-wide importance of the Port of Tilbury, its
central role in regional logistics industries and the contribution of these industries to overall local and
regional employment. Regional policy also recognises that an appropriate supply of land and
premises is essential to support Thurrock’s ongoing role as a centre for logistics.
Local policy similarly recognises the potential of the Port to contribute to employment goals, and in
particular supports the ongoing expansion of the Port, acknowledging the need for additional
employment land to be made available for this purpose.
Baseline socio-economic conditions in Thurrock
This report includes an assessment of baseline socio-economic conditions against which the current
and future economic impact of the Port can be judged. This shows that the borough of Thurrock has
had a reasonably good record in recent years on indicators such as unemployment, economic
activity, or business creation rates, although the recession has hit unemployment more than regional
and national averages.
Nonetheless there are also a number of weaknesses in the local economy. Local employment is
predominantly in relatively low-skilled and low wage occupations. Thurrock as a local authority is
affected by above average levels of deprivation compared to the country as a whole, with
concentrations of high levels of deprivation in a number of areas including parts of the town of
Tilbury itself. Furthermore, in contrast with the employment growth aspirations for Thurrock set out in
regional and local policy, there has been almost no net growth in jobs in Thurrock in the last five
years for which data are available, with the exception of a growth spurt in 2008.
The baseline assessment underlines the importance of the Port in providing jobs and income for
local residents, and in helping address issues such as social deprivation and low levels of skills. The
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importance of the Port in sustaining employment in Thurrock and contributing to future job growth is
also particularly important at the moment, given deteriorating economic conditions and rising
unemployment in the UK as a whole.
The current economic impact of the Port
Tilbury Port provides a location for the operations of 121 companies. The largest single employer is
the Port of Tilbury London Limited, which directly employs 605 people. The other 120 companies,
comprising tenants of the Port and other operators, employ an estimated 3,087 people collectively.
A further 23 firms in the surrounding area are judged to have located there to serve the Port (i.e.
catalytic employment) employ 520 people. The direct and catalytic employment sustained by the
Port is therefore 4,212 jobs of which some 3,690 are within the port boundary. These figures are for
2008. They are supported by the number of security passes issued for 2008, which provides a
rough proxy for total employment within the Port.
It is also important to consider wider employment sustained by the Port. This includes indirect
employment, i.e. in firms supplying the Port; and induced employment, i.e. jobs sustained by the
spending of port and indirect employees. When these wider employment effects are taken into
account, the Port is estimated to sustain 5,939 jobs in total in Thurrock. This is equivalent to 10% of
all employment in the borough.
It is estimated that of this total, 1,348 jobs are filled by people actually living in Thurrock, equivalent
to 2% of resident employment in the Borough. This illustrates the important role of the Port in
providing employment to people living in the borough.
At a regional level it is estimated that the Port sustains 6,992 jobs in the East of England region
when all employment effects are taken into account. This is equivalent to approximately 0.3% of all
regional employment.
The occupational profile of jobs at the port matches that for Thurrock as a whole, with the majority of
jobs being in skilled or semi-skilled manual positions. The average yearly pay for employees in all
firms located at the Port is £25,628 is 15% above the mean annual pay of people working in
Thurrock of £22,220 in 2008. Annual pay for employees of tenant and operator companies at
£24,631 is 11% above the mean for people working in Thurrock and that of POTLL employees at
£31,228 is 41% above the mean. POTLL is also a very stable employer, with 97% of POTLL staff
having been employed at the Port for longer than 10 years.
It is estimated that the total contribution of all economic activities sustained by the Port added £310
million in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the regional economy in 2008.
Wider social and economic impacts
There are several wider impacts from the Port, including a contribution to workforce skills
development and to more sustainable patterns of transport.
The port handles a significant share of the UK’s trade, supporting the businesses that use the port to
handle their trade, and has provided capacity for trade to grow to the benefit of the UK economy.
POTLL places great store on staff development, and nearly 95% of staff received formal training in
the last year. POTLL also has a successful apprenticeship scheme and internal management
development programme. It has a formal partnership with Thurrock & Basildon College to develop
programmes in logistics, and was also part of the consortium that recently bid to run the Skills for
Logistics Academy in Thurrock.
Tenant and operator companies at the Port also make a significant contribution to workforce training
and development. It is estimated that on average these firms spend approximately £450 per
employee per year on training, with a total spend of approximately £1.5 million per year.
The Port at Tilbury also contributes to regional and local policy goals on sustainability in light of its
upstream location in the Thames estuary and its proximity to the Greater London area. It is already
making a significant contribution to the sustainability of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic
Games, by acting as a gateway for construction materials and their onward transport along the
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Thames and the network of canals and waterways linking Tilbury and the Olympics Park. Tilbury can
continue to provide sustainable transport of building materials for development of the Thames
Gateway.
The Port has also been a film location for eighty years, most notably in recent years for Indiana
Jones and Batman films.
The economic case for future expansion of the Port and its economic impact
Traffic projections suggest that future growth over the period to 2021 will continue to be of a similar
scale to that experienced over the past decade, if port operations can be reorganised to
accommodate potential demand. These projections were based on trend in the period before the
recession, which has caused a downturn in the volume of port traffic, but it is too early to say what
the full impact of the recession is and how it will affect future growth. For the purposes of this
analysis it is assumed that the effect of the recession will be to delay the achievement of the
projected levels of traffic by a number of years, but that the projected levels will be reached, and
consequently the need for expansion of the scale estimated remains. This is the position taken by
the Government, in its recently published Draft National Policy Statement for Ports.
Accommodating growth will require, among other things, an expansion of quayside activities,
requiring an additional 11.5 hectares for container operations and backup and 23 hectares, plus
access and circulation areas, for expansion of general cargo facilities and the accompanying need
for additional undercover storage and haulier parking.
The survey of tenant and operator companies, while not providing a comprehensive assessment of
future floorspace requirements, does indicate a current and continuing need for expansion space,
including both floorspace within buildings and external areas.
The proposed development area at North Tilbury could be expected to lead to a maximum of 1,030
to 1,290 additional jobs, based on the maximum proposed floorspace of 86,406m2 in the frozen
indicative masterplan for the site and employment densities recommended for Thurrock. The lower
figure may be more appropriate given the low employment density in large storage warehouses.
Based on the existing overall employment density within the port, the 22.8 hectares of development
land would create about 320 jobs. This gives a range between 320 and a maximum of about 1,000
jobs, where the maximum planned floorspace is occupied. The likely outcome is in the upper part of
the range, with potential for some further job growth within the existing port area enabled by the
expansion and reorganisation. This range is supported by estimates based on growth in port
tonnage. Even with the achievement of high levels of productivity gain.of 50%, the potential
additional job creation of between 520 and 900 (depending on throughput growth scenario) is
significant, and is consistent with the estimates based on floorspace and land at the North Tilbury
site, allowing for additional jobs within the existing port. With more modest productivity growth, job
growth would be well above 1,000. This increase in employment is dependent however on
appropriate land being available, in order to enable operations to be organised with the greatest
efficiency (therefore maintaining competitiveness) and to increase throughput.
The consequences of the Port not being able to grow are unlikely to be simply jobs and income
foregone. The survey for this study identified several cases of tenants and operators of the Port who
want to expand their own operations in future, and who are looking to the Port to facilitate this. If this
cannot be achieved, it may lead in some cases to the loss of those clients altogether, potentially
resulting in a decline in the Port’s income, with a consequent loss of jobs and income for Tilbury and
Thurrock.
Any custom lost to Tilbury as a result of artificial constraints on growth is unlikely to be transferred to
London Gateway, and consequently would be lost to Thurrock and the Thames Gateway area
altogether. It is most likely that this traffic would either be diverted to the Humber Ports, and / or to a
shift to Ro-Ro, which would increase the volume of HGV road traffic by a very large margin.
Restriction on the capacity of the port would also affect users of the port who may incur additional
costs when they have to alter established patterns of port use.
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1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
This report presents an economic impact assessment for the Port of Tilbury carried out for
the Port of Tilbury London Limited (POTLL), setting out the economic impact of the Port,
and its contribution to employment and income to the local authority of Thurrock where it is
located and to the East of England region.
It has been commissioned in part to explain the economic importance of the Port to a broad
audience of policy-makers and other interested parties. It is relevant in particular in light of
the Port’s need to increase the amount of land it uses in future, in order to organise activities
in the most efficient way and to maximise their economic value and associated employment.
A central aim of the report is therefore to analyse the current and future economic impact of
the Port in the context of baseline social and economic conditions in the surrounding area,
tying this assessment closely to the economic and regeneration goals for the local area as
expressed in various strategy and policy documents. The research has not however been
commissioned to appraise the impact of any specific intervention, so it does not consider the
impacts of such as an intervention case against a reference case.
This report incorporates and in some places builds on research conducted by Arup in
August 2008 which made a preliminary review of the economic impact of the Port as the
basis to a consultation report on the East Thurrock Master Plan Preferred Option. In
particular it revises the previous estimated impact, using the results of the more recent
research. Where there are differences between the two pieces of research, the data in this
updated version should be referred to. The results record impacts at the end of 2008 unless
otherwise stated.
1.2 Research method
The research is based on:
• Review of a range of information provided by POTLL on its own operations, which
comprise part of the overall employment and economic activity at the Port, and
information on a number of POTLL’s customers.
• POTLL’s own twenty year forecasts of future cargo traffics. These predate the recent
downturn in economic conditions and therefore may be on the upside, depending on
how deep and prolonged the current recession is.
• Information on other firms with operations at the Port, including tenant firms leasing
space for their activities from POTLL, and several other firms operating at the Port.
• Review of statistical data on a range of social and economic indicators.
• Review of relevant policy and strategy documents from a range of national, regional and
local bodies.
• Other information on activities at the Port of Tilbury from a range of secondary sources.
1.2.1 Survey of businesses
Information on the tenant and other companies operating at the port, and on major POTLL
customers was gathered through a postal and telephone survey of 120 firms located within
the Port boundary, and a number of further interviews conducted with major customers of
the Port located elsewhere. The survey was conducted between November and December
2008. The questionnaires for postal responses and topic guide for phone interviews are
included as an appendix to this report.
Overall, a total of 59 responses were obtained:
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• 45 responses were received from firms based at the Port; collectively these firms
account for 1,152 permanent and temporary jobs. This provides a response rate from
firms based at the Port of 38%.
• The remaining 14 firms were located elsewhere in the UK.
Information on employment and business activities of a further 50 firms based at the Port
but not responding to the survey was obtained from the Market Locations database. This
proved useful in filling in gaps in the data from the survey.
1.3 Outline of this report
The remainder of this report sets out the detailed findings from the research and is
structured as follows:
• Section 2 provides a summary description of the Port and its activities and describes its
recent and future projected growth.
• Section 3 reviews national, regional and local policies that have a bearing on the Port
and its future expansion.
• Section 4 assesses socio-economic conditions in the local authority area of Thurrock in
which the Port is located, in order to establish a baseline against which the wider
economic impact of the Port can be assessed.
• Section 5 assesses the current economic impact of the Port in terms of the direct and
indirect employment it sustains, the areas of residence of people working at the Port,
and the quality of jobs it provides.
• Section 6 assesses the potential for future job creation at the Port.
• Section 7 reviews the potential impacts of constraining future job creation at the Port.
• Section 8 considers the wider social and economic impacts of the Port.
• Section 9 summarises overall findings from the research and provides an overall
conclusion to the economic impact assessment.
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2 The Port of Tilbury
2.1 Profile of the Port
The Port of Tilbury lies on the north bank of the River Thames, less than 5 miles outside the
M25 circular motorway. The Port occupies a land area of 262 hectares (ha) and includes:
• Two container terminals occupying 45ha, one fronting the River Thames and one within
the port;
• General cargo areas handling a wide range of goods such as wood, paper and motor
vehicles occupying 90 ha;
• A grain terminal occupying 20ha;
• Other bulk terminals dedicated to specific types of goods and services such as
aggregates, cement, metals and animal feeds; and
• A cruise terminal occupying 2ha.
Tilbury’s geographical markets are short sea traffic from the major European ports and
North South trade with South Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, India and
Pakistan. Tilbury is also a departure point for daily container sailings to Rotterdam, Bilbao,
Duisburg and the Baltic Ports.
Tilbury is currently the largest port in the Thames Gateway and the UK’s third largest
container port (after Southampton and Felixstowe). It also handles paper, forest products,
general cargo and ro-ro, grain and animal feed, bulk products as well as cruise passengers.
2.2 Major traffics
As London’s main port Tilbury handled 13.3 million tonnes of cargo in 2008. Tilbury holds a
leading market position in containers, forest products and agricultural products.
Table 2.1 Cargo Types as a Percentage of Business at Tilbury
Cargo Type Percentage (%)
Agricultural Bulks 12
Other Dry Bulks 13
Forest Products 25
Other Dry Cargo 14
Containers 36
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited
• Paper: As the UK’s leading port for handling paper products and the major entry point
for London’s print houses and publishers in the South East, the port handles over 3
million tonnes of paper annually.
• Forest Products: including sheet materials, specialist timber products, doors and
mouldings.
• Containers: Tilbury is the UK’s third largest container port and handled a throughput of
848,800 TEU in 2008;
• General Cargo and Ro-Ro: Tilbury handles car carriers (through a dedicated vehicle
handling centre), ferries and combi-ships. Tilbury achieved 42,000 units moved in 2007.
• Grain and Animal Feed: Tilbury handles between 1.3 and 1.4m tonnes annually of
grain and animal feed and are the market leader in this area.
• Bulk Products: Tilbury handles a wide range of bulk products.
• Cruise Terminal: During the cruise season Tilbury is the departure point for regular
cruises to mainland Europe and the Baltic region.
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2.3 Relationship with key sectors
Tilbury’s role in relation to a selection of these sectors as revealed in interviews with key
customers can further be described as follows.
2.3.1 Forest products
Tilbury is the UK’s leading port for import of forest products, and has a cluster of agents,
buyers and importers and shipping lines dealing with timber and related products which has
built up over a number of years. The Port has specialist facilities, including over 10 hectares
of sheds and distribution facilities for dry timber imports, and a mill employing around 35 full
time staff.
Materials imported include doors, specialised products and sheet materials such as plywood
from South America and South East Asia. While timber importers use a number of ports in
the UK (companies contacted in the survey mentioned Liverpool, Hull, Shoreham,
Thamesport, and Goole), Tilbury is a preferred location and is the main port of entry for six
out of twelve of the UK’s major timber importers. Imports are distributed across the country
from Tilbury.
Having a cluster of specialised businesses in this field makes a significant contribution to the
overall competitiveness of the Port. Interviewees noted however the importance of the Port
being able to effectively organise its operations to ensure efficient unloading of ships and
‘de-stuffing’ of containers. One importing agent noted that delays in these processes had led
to penalty charges being imposed by shipping lines in the past, and that when this
happened it made other ports e.g. London Gateway relatively more attractive, even if their
handling costs are higher.
2.3.2 Grain
The Port of Tilbury provides the UK’s largest grain terminal. Companies importing grain into
Tilbury interviewed for this study include:
• A supplier of one of the UK’s largest bakers, importing 50,000 tonnes of grain per year
through the Port. Tilbury is a cost-effective location from which to distribute imports to
customers in the south of England, though the company also distributes on a national
basis. This firm is expecting to increase its imports in future.
• An importer of waste grain materials for animal feed, generating £8m in sales from
imports through Tilbury for distribution to customers across the country. The milling
facilities available at the port are a key reason for their use of the Port.
• A supplier of bakery ingredients, which imports around 15,000 tonnes of soya beans
through the Port to its processing site in the Home Counties. Specialist facilities at
Tilbury allow shipments of up to 10,000 tonnes at a time and ease of distribution by road
in 25 tonne shipments.
2.3.3 Cars
Korean car manufacturer Hyundai is the largest importer of vehicles through Tilbury, which
is the only UK port it uses. It brings in more than 40,000 cars a year from manufacturing
sites across the world, and uses 20 hectares of land at the Port. The company recently
increased its investment at Tilbury, opening a new import-stocking facility in 2007 to shorten
delivery times and provide ex-stock availability for some of its most popular models. The
facility is used to fit UK-specific components to vehicles and to inspect them before their
distribution via Hyundai's local network of 160 dealers. The existence of car-handling
facilities provides wider employment in a number of firms working from the Port to manage
car imports. One of these firms interviewed for this study mentioned that its business is
thriving, but is dependent on the capacity of the Port to expand, as the Port will soon hit
capacity constraints.
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2.3.4 Paper
Tilbury is the UK’s leading port for handling paper products including reeled and baled pulp,
KLB and palletised cut paper. It is the main source of newsprint for London’s newspapers
and paper for a range of publishers in the south of the country. The Port has seen major
investment in facilities in recent years, including the £36 million invested by the Finnish
newsprint and paper product importer Stora Enso, to construct a state-of-the-art automated
Enterprise Distribution Centre for paper imports. Construction of the terminal required re-
location of a number of operations within the Port. This is a key example of the way that the
Port authorities periodically need to reconfigure operations in order to maximise throughput
in the restricted space available. The development was a major investment for Stora Enso
and has transformed its supply chain structure in the UK.
2.4 Recent expansion
Following privatisation in 1992 and acquisition by Forth Ports PLC in 1993 the site has been
the focus of considerable reorganisation and expansion. Forth Ports PLC has invested over
£150m to modernise its services and maximise its operating capacity.
This has included significant land reclamation and a reorganisation of port landholdings with
a number of tenants being transferred to allow for an expansion in port handling capacity.
Developments have included: reclamation of 11ha of land; acquisition of a further 24ha and
growth in undercover storage areas from 250,000 m2 in 1995 to 480,000 m
2 in 2008.
This has supported substantial growth in volumes of general cargo and number of
containers passing through the port as set out in Table 2.2.
Table 2.2 Growth in cargo and container traffic at Tilbury, 1993 - 2008
1993 2007 2008
Cargo (million tonnes) 6 12.6 13.3
Containers (TEU) 350,000 819,000 848,800
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited
Tilbury port is however now operating to capacity. There are limited remaining meaningful
reorganisation options available to increase capacity on the current site. However the port’s
services were, until the start of the recession, subject to high and rising demand.
2.5 Prospects for future growth at Tilbury
The Port believes it can attract additional traffics over the period 2010-2021. These traffics
would increase total tonnage from a 2007 base of 12.6 million tonnes to between 23.1 and
25.2 million tonnes in 2021. Container traffic would increase from 819,000 TEU in 2007 to
between 1.6 and 1.8 million TEU in 2021
These estimates are framed within, and evidenced by, the national policy context and
regional port traffic forecasts, in addition to POTLL forecasts. They were developed before
the recession brought a sharp downturn in international trade and port demand.
2.5.1 Impact of the Recession
The recession has caused a major reduction in trade and the volume handled by UK ports.
The most recent provisional statistics for the year to Q3 20091 (i.e. since the start of the
recession) show a decline in overall port traffic of 9% and in unitised traffic of 12% on the
equivalent period ending Q3 2008. The London group of ports, which include Tilbury, had a
corresponding decline of 11% and 14%, i.e. a somewhat greater impact than average. It is
too early to assess the full effect of the recession on the port.
The recession clearly has the potential to affect forecasts of growth in port traffic that were
based on the pre-recession trends, however the uncertainty about the economic outlook
makes it very difficult to quantify the effect with any confidence. The Government’s revised
forecasts of 2007 provide a benchmark for growth in port traffic in the UK. The 1 Department for Transport, Transport Statistics Bulletin, Provisional Quarterly Port Statistics Q3 2009
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Government’s view, stated in the Draft National Policy Statement for Ports (November 2009,
see section 3.1 below), is that the effect of the recession will be to delay the achievement of
the projected levels of traffic by a number of years, but that the projected levels will be
reached. But there remains great uncertainty on how many years’ delay the recession will
cause. It depends on whether the recovery has actually started, the speed of recovery and
the subsequent rate of growth, all of which are unclear at this point.
For the purposes of planning major infrastructure it is necessary to take a view of the future,
such as that the economy will resume its long term growth path after a period of stagnation.
On the assumption that recovery began at the end of 2009, by way of illustration, with 2.5%
average GDP growth, it would take about three and a half years to get back to the GDP
level of mid 2008, which would imply about this period of delay.
Accordingly given the uncertainties and lack of a firm basis for alternative projections at the
time of writing, the position adopted in this report is to use the forecasts that have been
prepared before the recession with the expectation that there will be some years’ delay in
their achievement.
2.5.2 Growth prospects for Thames and Kent ports: container and ro-ro traffic
The latest DfT approved forecast for the South East is shown below.
Table 2.3 South East container traffic forecasts (including London)
Million TEU Implied annual growth % p.a.
2005 2.1
2010 2.6 4.36%
2015 3.4 5.51%
2020 4.0 3.33%
2025 4.7 3.27%
2030 4.9 0.8%
Note. Great Britain containerised external trade.
Source: Update of UK Port Demand Forecasts to 2030 and economic Value of Transhipment Study, Final report,
MDS Transmodal, July 2007, Table 4.3.
Applying these growth rates to current traffic at POTLL gives a comparison with the port’s
own forecast as shown in Table 2.4. The DfT based projections reflect the general regional
trend, but do not reflect the specific circumstances of POTLL. The comparison shows that,
for selected years, POTLL’s forecasts are between 10% and 20% higher than the DfT’s
forecasts. Thus POTLL would have to achieve container traffic growth better (but not
substantially better) than the regional average to achieve its target forecast of between 1.97
and 2.17 traffic growth increase (see bottom line of the table) between 2007 and 2021.
POTLL consider their port to have the capacity to service the current market, and for this
reason anticipate above average growth in the next 4 years in particular.
While this comparison is considered useful, its importance should not be over stated.
POTLL is the best judge of its own offer, customers and markets. Its judgement that it can
achieve better-than the average regional growth should have greater weight than the official
regional forecast.
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Table 2.4 Container traffic: comparison of POTLL and DfT forecasts
POTLL low POTLL high DfT
TEU Growth Rate (p.a.)
TEU Growth Rate (p.a.)
TEU Growth Rate (p.a.)
1993 350,000
2007 819,000 819,000
2011 1,199,098 10% 1,199,098 10% 982,154 5.51%
2016 1,390,083 3% 1,458,886 4% 1,257,710 3.33%
2021 1,611,487 3% 1,774,958 4% 1,480,678 3.27%
Growth factor 2007=100
196.8 216.7 180.8
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited; Update of UK Port Demand Forecasts to 2030 and Economic Value of
Trans-Shipment Study, MDS Transmodal, 2007
These projections suggest a step change in port activity by 2021. This is estimated to be on
a similar scale to changes between 1993 and 2007. While part of this growth could be
facilitated through more efficient handling, continued reorganisation and reduced dwell
times, there is an overriding need to increase the area the Port uses. This is described in
more detail in Section 6 below.
The latest DfT approved forecast for London ro-ro traffic is shown below, which indicates
rapid growth in this traffic.
Table 2.5 London Ro-ro traffic forecasts
Ro-ro
Thousand units Implied annual growth % p.a.
2005 558
2010 721 5.26%
2015 831 2.88%
2020 959 2.90%
2025 1,123 3.21%
2030 1,243 2.05%
Source: Update of UK Port Demand Forecasts to 2030 and Economic Value of Trans-Shipment Study, MDS
Transmodal, 2007
2.5.3 Growth prospects for total tonnage
POTLL’s forecasts for the overall tonnage handled by the Port are set out in Table 2.6
below. These are compared with the DfT’s latest forecasts for overall GB tonnage. These
are not exactly comparable, as they are a mix of all of cargo for the whole country (a more
specific benchmark is not available). The POTLL forecasts are much higher than the
benchmark values from DfT. This, in part reflects POTLL’s expectations for a large volume
of barge transport of construction materials relating to the Olympics and local housing
growth. It is worth noting that the actual 2008 tonnage of 13.3 million tonnes exceeded the
DfT benchmark for 2011.
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Table 2.6 Overall traffic: comparison of POTLL and DfT forecasts
POTLL low POTLL high DfT
Tonnes, million
Growth Rate (p.a.)
Tonnes, million
Growth Rate (p.a.)
Tonnes, million
Growth Rate (p.a.)
1993 6.0
2007 12.6 12.6 12.6
2011 16.5 7% 13.2 1.49%
2016 19.9 3% 20.7 4% 13.7 0.58%
2021 23.1 3% 25.2 4% 14.5 1.18%
Growth factor 2007=100 183.0 199.9 115.4
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited; Update of UK Port Demand Forecasts to 2030 and Economic Value of
Trans-Shipment Study, MDS Transmodal, 2007
2.6 Masterplan for future expansion
POTLL has prepared comprehensive masterplan to make the most efficient use of the Port’s
landholding. It allows re-organisation of operations and increased capacity for throughput of
cargo, enabling the Port to meet some or all of increased future demand. The requirement
for additional space is driven by the need to maximise the amount of quayside space for
temporary storage of goods and containers and ensure timely removal of these from the
quayside. This will allow more efficient turnaround of vessels, reduce quayside congestion,
and allow greater throughput.
Demand for land may increase more than tonnage through the port from the growth of value
added activities that need to locate on or near the Port, and their potential clustering and
synergies with London Gateway. In particular, port-centric distribution is a growing trend
that provides cost savings, as well as environmental benefits, in the distribution of imports
through the avoidance of transporting containers to distant inland distribution centres and
returning them empty to the Port.
The estimated need for additional land for this re-organisation totals some 34.5 hectares
plus necessary circulation and access space.
A key part of this plan is the proposed expansion of its facilities onto 28.9 hectares of new
land at north Tilbury, lying north of the current port boundary. The Indicative Masterplan for
the proposal comprises formation of new accesses to the A1089(T) and Dock Road,
creation of internal estate roads, erection of buildings for storage and distribution (B8),
general industry (B2) and offices (B1), provision of serviced haulier parking, car parking,
public amenity areas, open space and landscaping. The development parameters from the
frozen Indicative Masterplan are:
Landuses
Warehousing and distribution (B8) with ancillary offices 13.20 ha.
Office and industrial uses 1.85 ha.
Haulier Parking 7.20 ha.
Structural landscaping and open space 5.58 ha.
Land Parcel A main access and spine road 0.63 ha.
Floorspace
Total B8 with ancillary offices 75,278 sq.m.
Total B1 7,960 sq.m.
B1c/B2 3,168 sq.m.
Total Maximum floorspace of the development 86,406 sq.m.
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2.7 Relationship of the Port of Tilbury to London Gateway
London Gateway is the new container port and logistics park being developed by DP World
at Stanford Le Hope in Thurrock, 13.5 km North East of Tilbury. Given its proximity and
large capacity, it is important to consider whether the two will compete, affecting their
growth. DP World announced in January 2010 that it will go ahead with the foundation
stage of the project, after it was put on hold in March 2009 because of the market downturn.
However it will continue to review the development of the port and park operations in line
with market demand. Capacity could come on stream in 2012, but there remain
uncertainties over funding for the project, which, together with uncertainties about the
recovery of international trade, may affect the rate of development.
The relationship between the Port of Tilbury and the forthcoming London Gateway is
commonly misunderstood. The two are complements rather than substitutes, serving
different markets. The owners of London Gateway, DP World, also have a stake (along with
POTLL) in Tilbury Container Services, which operates from the Port of Tilbury.
London Gateway will be a container port only, serving the East West trade. It will be
optimised for the new generation of extremely large container ships that will call at only one
port in Europe. It will provide capacity for 3.5m TEU per annum (compared with a forecast
1.2m TEU per annum handled Tilbury in 2011). London Gateway’s automated loading
system will make it unsuitable for the smaller container ships currently patronising Tilbury. It
is unlikely that current customers of Tilbury will be able to switch operation to London
Gateway for a number of reasons.
Tilbury’s customers are generally smaller, operating on tighter operating margins. Handling
fees at London Gateway are expected to be 40% to 50% higher than fees at Tilbury due to
the scale of capital investment. Tilbury customers are likely to be unable to afford this, and
London Gateway will be uninterested in smaller customers with lower profit margins due to
their need to recoup their large capital investment costs.
For these reasons, any custom lost to Tilbury as a result of artificial constraints on growth is
likely to be lost to Thurrock and the Thames Gateway altogether (probably to the Humber
Ports), or to shift to Ro-Ro, which would increase the number of HGV road traffic by a very
large margin. Similarly, the growth of Tilbury container traffic is very unlikely to detract from
the growth of London Gateway.
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3 Policy Context
There are a number of plans and policies relating to the Port of Tilbury at national, regional
and local levels. These can be summarised as follows.
3.1 National policy
The Ports Policy Review Interim Report published by the Department for Transport in July
2007 sets out the government’s interim position following the 2006 Port’s Policy
consultation. It confirms the government’s essentially free market approach to Ports Policy
as first exemplified in the Modern Ports White Paper (2000):
“Commercial port operators are best placed to make decisions about where and when to
invest in the port sector. We see no additional benefit from locally or regionally
determinative ports policy. But we need to ensure that the way in which the industry
develops takes full account of both the adverse impacts and the benefits, locally and
regionally”.
Source: Ports Policy Review Interim Report, DfT July 2007
Key elements of the Government approach relevant to this report are:
• Demand forecasts to be produced every five years “to aid assessment of national need”;
• Recommendation that port master plans be developed;
• Broad guidelines to be developed on the safeguarding of port land;
• Inland connections to ports, seen as “a crucial aspect of ports policy”.
Sustainability also features prominently in the policy.
The most up to date statement on national policy is the Draft National Policy Statement for
Ports, published in November 2009, which relates to planning decisions for nationally
significant new port infrastructure2 under the new planning system established by the
Planning Act of 2008. The Policy Statement provides the framework for decisions on new
port development proposals by the Infrastructure Planning Commission, set up by the Act.
The Policy Statement confirmed the policy for ports set out in the Interim Report of 2007,
and summarised the key points as follows. “the Government seeks to:
• Encourage sustainable port development to cater for long-term forecast growth in
volumes of imports and exports by sea with a competitive and efficient port industry
capable of meeting the needs of importers and exporters cost effectively and in a timely
manner;
• Allow judgement about when and where new developments might be proposed to be
made on the basis of commercial factors by the port industry or port developers
operating within a free market environment; and
• Ensure all proposed developments satisfy the relevant legal and social constraints and
objectives, including those of the relevant European Directives and corresponding
national regulations.”
Source: Draft National Policy Statement for Ports November 2009
The Policy Statement also identifies how new port infrastructure should support the
Government’s policy on sustainable development, in particular in relation to the socio-
economic impact of ports:
• To contribute to local/regional employment,
• To enhance access to port and the jobs, services and social networks they create,
including for the most disadvantaged, and
2 The current proposals for the Port of Tilbury do not constitute a nationally significant development that
are required to be referred to the Infastructure Planning Commission.
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• Support economic and social cohesion.
The Policy Statement comments on forecasts for demand for ports and the effect of the
recession. It refers to forecasts of demand for port capacity up to 2030 by MDS Transmodal
for the Department of Transport in 2006, updated in 2007. It states that, whilst the
recession has led to a severe downturn in demand, the full effect on trade through ports
cannot be fully quantified at this point. The Government’s view is that the long term effect
will be to delay demand reaching the levels forecast in the 2007 projections by a number of
years, but those levels of demand will be reached.
3.2 Regional policy
The importance of the Port of Tilbury and need to ensure it continues to contribute to the
competitiveness of logistics industries in the region is explicitly mentioned in both the
Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England and the Regional Economic Strategy.
3.2.1 Regional Spatial Strategy: East of England Plan, May 2008:
The Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) identifies Thurrock as a focus for significant growth
and regeneration, and in particular supports the development of logistics. Key references
from the document are as follows.
• “Essex Thames Gateway presents a unique opportunity reflecting the extensive areas of
previously developed land, its proximity to central London, international transport links
and access to continental Europe”. (Para 13.15)
• “Essex Thames Gateway contains the biggest assemblage of port infrastructure in the
region, principally Port of London facilities at Thurrock”. (Para 13.17)
• “Significant levels of out commuting, particularly to London, point to underlying
weaknesses in the sub-region’s economic structure in terms of the quantity, quality and
range of job opportunities. Improved alignment between homes and workplaces is
required”. (Para 13.20)
Key policies are as follows:
• Policy ETG1 outlines a strategy which aims to achieve ‘transformational development
and change throughout the Essex Thames Gateway’ based on economic growth and
job creation.
• Policy E1 outlines provision for 55,000 new jobs in the Essex Thames Gateway (of
which Thurrock is part) for the period 2001-2021.
• Policy E2 requires that an adequate range of sites/premises is allocated to achieve the
indicative job growth targets of Policy E1.
• Policy SS5 identifies the Essex Thames Gateway as a Priority Area for Regeneration
due to its “generally weak economic performance and significant areas of deprivation”.
• Policy ETG2 refers specifically to Thurrock Key Centre for Development and Change
with a strategy to:
I. Upgrade the image of the area as a leading centre for logistics, and enhance the
scale and sustainability of its role in that respect, while also seeking to diversify
the employment base of the Borough
II. Develop a safeguarding policy for wharves and quays necessary for the strategic
functioning of the Port of London.
• Policy ETG5 outlines provision for 26,000 new jobs within Thurrock for the period 2001-
2021. This increase in jobs is to be provided by:
I. Providing for a range of sites and premises suitable for the needs of existing and
future businesses, including the development at London Gateway (a new
container port facility with associated business park and rail freight handling
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facilities) and other sites that will support Thurrock’s role as a leading logistics
centre.
II. Improving opportunities for small and medium enterprises particularly within the
transport and logistics sector.
It is worth noting that the employment growth targets for Thurrock are ambitious and to a
large extent dependent on achieving employment at London Gateway throughout the rest of
the Plan period. Even if the predicted jobs materialise at London Gateway as forecast, this
will not be sufficient to meet the overall target for Thurrock, underlining the need not to
constrain employment growth potential elsewhere, for instance, through restrictive
employment land policies.
3.2.2 Regional Economic Strategy: Inventing our Future, Collective Action for a
Sustainable Economy, 2008
Key references are as follows:
• Development of the wider Thames Gateway South Essex sub-region is characterised by
the need for business creation and job growth.
• London Gateway is identified as “a national logistics and ports enterprise hub - a centre
for research and technical support as part of an associated cluster” which includes the
Port of Tilbury.
• Thurrock is identified as an “asset and opportunity”, as “a major port location, with the
Port of Tilbury (currently accounting for 80 per cent of Port of London container traffic)
and approved plans for London Gateway port development’ that will create up to 14,000
jobs”.
• The Port of Tilbury contributes to the “greatest concentration of logistics operations
supporting London as a world city”.
• Thurrock is characterised by high levels of commuting and connection to London.
• “Areas of high and persistent unemployment and economic inactivity” exist within
Thurrock.
3.3 Local policy
3.3.1 Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation: Transforming and
Revitalising Thurrock, A Framework for Regeneration and Sustainable
Growth, November 2005
The Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation (TTGDC) seeks to “secure
comprehensive and sustainable housing and economic growth, through the structured
development and regeneration of the Borough for the benefit of new and existing
communities and visitors to the area”.
In 2005, TTGDC published its vision for the area under a Framework for Regeneration and
Sustainable Growth. The purpose of the document is to guide the Development
Corporation’s activities during its seven year life span. However, while the Development
Corporation is the planning authority for major development in Thurrock, the document is a
non-statutory plan.
The document:
• Highlights significant areas of deprivation and high number of economically inactive
residents within Tilbury.
• Identifies the riverfront as an asset and recognises that the existing built development
along the waterfront is largely industrial, including Tilbury Port.
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3.3.2 Thurrock Spatial Plan, August 2007
TTGDC’s Spatial Plan reflects the East of England Plan and sets out a framework to attract
new economic investment and diversify the economic base. According to the Plan:
• The Port of Tilbury is identified as a “major economic generator’” with an established
reputation for port, port-related and distribution activities. The Port is identified as one of
five principal economic hubs in the Borough.
• The Port is identified as an important asset to the economy of Thurrock and the UK,
“providing substantial dock facilities for international shipping, and extensive
warehousing and distribution facilities”.
• The Plan aspires to “support the continued growth and development of the Port of
Tilbury”.
• The Plan outlines capacity for an additional 500 jobs within the Port of Tilbury through
indigenous growth.
• “The area has a very strong history of port and port-related employment which will
continue in the future, through growth at the Port of Tilbury and the proposed
development of a new deepwater port, London Gateway, at Shell Haven”.
• Significant levels of deprivation are identified within Tilbury.
3.3.3 South East Thurrock Master Plan, November 2009
TTGDC’s Master Plan for South East Thurrock is one of seven non-statutory Master Plans
prepared and in preparation for areas of the Borough according to the guidelines for Action
Area Plans. They do not form part of the Thurrock Council’s emerging Local Development
Framework, and have been prepared in advance of it. They will be a material consideration
in the determination of planning applications.
The Master Plan proposes moderate growth for South East Thurrock, which, as a whole, is
constrained by the Green Belt. It identifies Tilbury as the main focus area for expansion in
the plan area due to the town’s regeneration requirements and the development land and
pressures within and surrounding the town.
The Master Plan recognises the vital role of the Port of Tilbury in providing jobs to the local
area, as well as its importance to the wider regional economy. It also recognises the
importance of the growth of the port to the regeneration of Tilbury and the Thames
Gateway, and the Port’s need for additional land to enable it to reorganise and make the
most efficient use of its quayside land. The Master Plan proposes that expansion of port
related uses takes place on part of the land owned by the POTLL to the north of the port,
supporting the principle of POTLL’s proposals.
3.3.4 Thurrock Economic Development Strategy
An updated economic development strategy for Thurrock was commissioned in 2007 by
TTGDC, with a Summary published in 2008. The Strategy identifies ten challenges for
Thurrock and its economy as follows:
1. Creating new employment
2. Responding to a constantly changing policy landscape
3. Creating a more diverse economy
4. Creating a stronger skills base
5. Creating an easily accessed, high quality education offer
6. Addressing concentrations of social and economic disadvantage
7. Creating appropriate, high quality infrastructure for growth
8. Creating higher levels of enterprise
9. Allowing a significant scale of development in key economic hub locations
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10. Capitalising on the London Gateway development.
3.3.5 Thurrock Council: Core Strategy and Policies for Management of
Development, Proposed Submission February 2010
Thurrock Council is in the process of preparing its Local Development Framework (LDF),
which will eventually replace the policies in previously adopted local plans and form part of
the statutory development plan for the area. The emerging LDF recognises the importance
of the Port and its expansion and supports removal of land to the North of Tilbury from the
Green Belt for port related uses.
The Submission Draft of the Core Strategy was published in February 2010. Key policies
relevant to the Port are those for employment growth and the Green Belt.
Policy CSSP2 Sustainable Employment Growth will “promote and support economic
development in the Key Strategic Economic Hubs that seeks to expand upon their existing
core sectors and/or provide opportunities in the growth sectors.” Tilbury is one of the Key
Economic Strategic Economic Hubs identified and the Port is one of the Core Sectors.
Policy CSSP4 Sustainable Green Belt states that, at Tilbury Marshes, “The Council will
support the principle of release of Green Belt land (26Ha.) to the North of Tilbury for port-
related employment use and a Strategic Lorry Park to facilitate expansion of Tilbury Port.
The Council will require management arrangements to be put in place for the remainder of
the Tilbury Marshes site that has important biodiversity interest and required mitigation
measures to be implemented to replace lost habitat and flood storage areas.”
3.4 Summary
At national level, government policy makes no distinction in favour of particular ports but
leaves decision making on growth of ports to their operators, while ensuring that future port
development takes account of any adverse impacts and benefits arising.
At regional and local levels the key documents are those developed for the purpose of land
use planning and economic development strategy. The review of relevant documents above
illustrates a strong consistency between regional and local policy on a range of issues in
which current and future employment provided by the Port will have a bearing. Key points
are:
• Regional and local policy identifies the need for major growth in employment in
Thurrock, in line with projected population growth and the need to create local jobs for
local people in order to reduce out-commuting. The East of England Plan identifies a
specific target of 26,000 net additional jobs for Thurrock to be created in the period 2001
– 2021, requiring 1,300 new jobs per year on average.
• There is a recognition of the regional and nation-wide importance of the Port, and of its
central role in the cluster of logistics industries in the region. The contribution of
employment in this cluster to overall employment and to helping reduce levels of
deprivation is also acknowledged.
• It is recognised that ensuring an appropriate supply of land and premises is essential to
support Thurrock’s ongoing role as a centre for logistics.
• Local policy is particular supports the on-going expansion of the Port. Both TTGDC and
the Council are suggesting development of land to the North of Tilbury for port-related
development, the Local Development Framework suggesting its removal from the Green
Belt.
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4 Socio-Economic Baseline
4.1 Introduction
This section sets out a socio-economic baseline against which the overall impact of the Port
of Tilbury can be compared. It focuses on a number of issues in which the presence of the
Port is expected to have an impact, including sectoral employment and entrepreneurship
trends in the local economy, characteristics of the local labour market and the supply of
labour, travel to work patterns and social deprivation.
The impact area is defined as Thurrock local authority area. Trends in Thurrock are also
compared against the East of England region and England and Wales to illustrate local
trends against a wider background.
The most up to date data available has been used in this section. The year for the most
recent information varies between different data sets.
4.2 Sectoral trends in the local economy
The Thurrock economy has strengths in specific sectors, as illustrated in Table 4.1 below.
This sets out data from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) and shows that total employee
jobs (i.e. excluding self-employment) has been stable in recent years, with a modest growth
spurt in the most recent year of data. The East of England Plan identifies the borough as a
location for employment growth, with an ambitious overall policy target of 1,300 net new
jobs per year on average (see Section 3). Little progress towards this target was made
between 2003 and 2007, but between 2007 and 2008 the target was exceeded, with 1,882
new jobs, though these may fall back due to the recession in the next round of data.
The largest sectors in terms of employment are Wholesale and Retail activities, Transport
and Communication, Business Services, Education, and Manufacturing. The data indicate
significant employment growth in service industries, a decline in manufacturing and a
decline in areas such as education, health and social work and public administration.
Due to changes in survey methods the rate of change between 2003 and 2007 should be
taken as approximate; employment totals for 2007 and 2008 are broadly correct however.
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Table 4.1 Employment by sector in Thurrock, 2003 – 2008
Change 2003-2008
Change in last year
Industry 2003 2007 2008
n % n %
Wholesale and retail 18,000 19,000 19,627 1,627 9% 627 3%
Transport & communication 7,500 8,000 8,087 587 8% 87 1%
Business services 4,400 5,900 6,192 1,792 41% 292 5%
Education 4,200 5,200 4,724 524 12% -476 -9%
Manufacturing 6,700 5,000 4,699 -2,001 -30% -301 -6%
Hotels and restaurants 3,700 3,400 3,713 13 0% 313 9%
Health and social work 4,300 3,200 3,028 -1,272 -30% -172 -5%
Construction 3,300 2,600 2,738 -562 -17% 138 5%
Other services 2,200 2,500 2,650 450 20% 150 6%
Public administration 1,500 1,000 1,983 483 32% 983 98%
Financial intermediation 600 500 516 -84 -14% 16 3%
Other 200 400 525 325 163% 125 31%
Total 56,600 56,700 58,482 1,882 3% 1,782 3%
Source: Annual Business Inquiry. Totals rounded. Note. The scale of change in manufacturing and business
service employment may be overstated by changes in the survey methodology; however, the overall ranking in
terms of sector size in 2007 & 2008 data is considered broadly correct.
4.3 Business development and enterprise
VAT registrations and de-registrations provide an important indicator of business
development and enterprise trends in the local area. The net stock of VAT-registered
businesses (i.e. registrations minus de-registrations) in Thurrock grew steadily over the five
year period from 2003 to 2007, with a net increase of nearly 600 VAT-registered
businesses, illustrating a degree of local economic vitality.
Table 4.2 below shows the net change in the total number of VAT registered businesses in
Thurrock between 2002 and 2006 by sector. The final column in the table gives the change
in that sector over the period.
Table 4.2 Net VAT registrations in Thurrock, 2003 – 2007
Industry 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total %
Business services 50 30 30 60 85 255 44%
Construction 10 40 40 20 45 155 27%
Wholesale, retail and repairs 30 10 10 10 20 80 14%
Hotels and restaurants 10 5 5 10 10 40 7%
Transport and communication 5 5 5 -5 15 25 4%
Education, health, social work 5 5 5 0 5 20 3%
Agriculture 0 0 0 0 5 5 1%
Manufacturing -5 0 0 5 5 5 1%
Mining, quarrying and utilities 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Public admin; other services 0 -5 -5 0 10 0 0%
Financial intermediation -5 0 0 0 0 -5 -1%
Total 95 90 90 100 200 575 100%
Source: BIS Guide to Business Start-ups and Closures Tables 2a-2d: UK, Country, Government Office Region, County and District by Broad Industry, November 2008.
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Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 5 to avoid disclosure of information on specific businesses.
The table illustrates that the largest area for new business growth has been in business
services, which reflects national trends. Other large growth categories reflect specific
strengths in the local economy in Thurrock, with significant net growth in wholesale and
retail activities, transport and communication. The construction sector presents an anomaly,
with a significant growth in new firms, compared to the overall fall in employment in the
sector recorded in Table 4.1. This may reflect jobs lost in a small number of large
employers.
4.4 Labour market trends
Data on employment, economic activity and unemployment can be analysed together to
provide an overall picture of local labour market trends in the study area.
4.4.1 Total employment in Thurrock
The Annual Population Survey (APS), which assesses employment based on surveys of
people, recorded a total of 59,000 people working within Thurrock in 2007, a decrease of
2% over the previous year.
In comparison, the ABI recorded a total of 56,700 employee jobs in Thurrock in 2007 and
58,500 in 2008. Both survey approaches are based on survey samples and include a
margin of error. A significant component of the difference between the two totals is likely
however to be attributable to self-employment (which is not recorded by the ABI), so the
APS figure of 59,000 is probably the best indicator of total employment.
4.4.2 Employment rates
The employment rate shows the proportion of the working age population actually in work. It
is measured by the number of people in employment aged 16-59 (women) or 16-64 (men)
expressed as a percentage of the population aged 16-59 or 16-64.
Over the five year period 2006-2009, Thurrock had an employment rate that tended to
fluctuate between that of the East of England and England and Wales but in 2009 fell
slightly below the English average. For purposes of comparison, in the most prosperous
areas of southern England, where demand for labour is strong, about 90% of the working
age population are in work. In contrast, in the most deprived districts the rate can be as low
as 50%. Thurrock provides an intermediate case, with 77% of the working age population in
work in 2008. Employment rates have fallen across England and Wales as a whole, and the
fall has been particularly sharp in Thurrock, although smaller areas will tend to look more
volatile in percentage terms. This fall in employment rate equates to 2,400 fewer people in
employment living in Thurrock in 2009 than in 2006.
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Figure 4.1: Employment Rate, 2006 – 2009
64%
66%
68%
70%
72%
74%
76%
78%
80%
2006 2007 2008 2009
Thurrock England & Wales East of England London
Source: Annual Population Survey / Labour Force Survey
4.4.3 Economic activity rates
People are considered to be economically active, or in the labour force, if they are aged 16
and over and are either in work or actively looking for work. Economic activity rates
therefore exclude those who are not seeking work, whether because of ill-health or some
other issue, students who do not have jobs, the retired, those staying at home to look after
the family. Economic activity rates are often considered to be a truer measure of the
available workforce than the employment rate alone, and they may also provide an
indication of ‘hidden’ unemployment e.g. where large numbers of people who might
otherwise be considered unemployed are in fact receiving disability benefits or have
become discouraged from job search.
Economic activity rates in Thurrock are, broadly speaking, higher than the England & Wales
and London averages, but underperform the regional average.
Figure 4.2: Trends in Economic Activity Rates, 2006 - 2009
70%
72%
74%
76%
78%
80%
82%
84%
2006 2007 2008 2009
Thurrock England & Wales East of England London
Source: Labour Force Survey / Annual Population Survey
4.4.4 Unemployment
Unemployment data here are assessed on the claimant count measure, which records the
proportion of the total working age population claiming unemployment benefits. The
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claimant count rate in Thurrock closely followed that for England and Wales for the five year
period 2002 and 2006 however, along with the rest of the country, there was a sharp spike
in claimants after July 2008, and the most recent data show that Thurrock’s unemployment
rate is above the national and regional average and higher even than London’s, which has
historically been between half and one percent higher than Thurrock.
Figure 4.3: Unemployment, 2004 – 2010, % (claimant count)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
Jan-
04
Apr-0
4
Jul-0
4
Oct-0
4
Jan-
05
Apr-0
5
Jul-0
5
Oct-0
5
Jan-
06
Apr-0
6
Jul-0
6
Oct-0
6
Jan-
07
Apr-0
7
Jul-0
7
Oct-0
7
Jan-
08
Apr-0
8
Jul-0
8
Oct-0
8
Jan-
09
Apr-0
9
Jul-0
9
Oct-0
9
Jan-
10
Thurrock England & Wales East of England London
Source: NOMIS, Claimant Count
4.4.5 Wage levels
Figure 4.3 sets out mean and median weekly wage rates in Thurrock and comparator areas.
It shows that wages in Thurrock are close to the regional and national average, and
marginally less unequal, but much lower than in London. The mean gives the arithmetic
average. The median is the value than which precisely half of the population earns more
and half earns less. The median is below the mean because of a relatively small number of
very high earners. The gap is a measure of inequality.
Figure 4.4 Gross Weekly Earnings 2009 (resident analysis)
£0
£100
£200
£300
£400
£500
£600
£700
£800
Thurrock East of England London England & Wales
Mean Median
Note: Average earnings for full time employees living in the area. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
2003-2009.
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4.5 Labour supply
4.5.1 Educational attainment
Thurrock as a district has a relatively low-skill resident workforce, with a high concentration
of working age population with no qualifications, and a low concentration of people with
NVQ4 (i.e. degree level qualifications).
Figure 4.4 below illustrates these trends using location quotients (LQ). These indicate how
the profile of Thurrock, the East of England and London compare to the profile for England
and Wales. A LQ of 1 means that the proportion of the working population of the area with a
particular level of educational attainment is the same as that for England and Wales as a
whole; a LQ of 0.5 means that the area has half the proportion of people with that level of
attainment, and so on.
In 2009 Thurrock had a significantly higher concentration of economically active working
age residents with no qualifications, and a significantly lower level of residents with
qualifications at any level than the East of England region, London, or and England and
Wales as a whole.
Figure 4.5: Educational Attainment: Thurrock compared with East of England and
England and Wales
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
% with NVQ4+
% with NVQ3+
% with NVQ2+
% with NVQ1+
% with other qualifications
% with no qualifications
Thurrock England & Wales East of England London
Note: Figure shows proportion of the working age population with qualifications to the NVQ level indicated, relative
to the average proportion of working age population with those qualifications at the national level. Source: Annual
Population Survey, residence based analysis, average figures for 2009
Thurrock’s education attainment profile points to the need for up-skilling and re-training
initiatives. Those local employers that provide opportunities for training and skills
development are therefore particularly valuable to the local economy and to the local
population.
4.5.2 Occupational profiles
Figure 4.5 gives the occupational profile of residents in Thurrock and comparator areas in
2009 as location quotients which show the proportion relative to England and Wales as a
whole (see above for an explanation of location quotients). It shows that although the East
of England had an occupational profile which was similar to that of England and Wales,
Thurrock’s profile was very different. Thurrock has a greater proportion of people employed
in manual and lower skill jobs, particularly process, plant and machine operatives and
elementary occupations and a significantly lower proportion of people in managerial,
professional or associate professional and technical occupations. London has a much
higher proportion of managers and professionals, as might be expected of the capital city.
This means that Thurrock residents are less able to access highly skilled jobs available in
London and must therefore look for relatively low skilled jobs locally. This finding is
consistent with the skills profile of the working age population indicated above.
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Figure 4.6: Occupational Profile of the workforce: Thurrock compared with East of
England and England and Wales
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.61: managers and senior officials
2: professional occupations
3: associate prof & tech
occupations
4: administrative and secretarial
occupations
5: skilled trades occupations6: personal service occupations
7: sales and customer service
occupations
8: process, plant and machine
operatives
9: elementary occupations
Thurrock England & Wales East London
Note: Figure shows location quotient of people in employment with the occupation type specified. Source: Annual
Population Survey, residence-based analysis, average figures for 2009.
4.6 Commuting patterns
Data on commuting in Thurrock is based on the 2001 Census. While the Census is now
dated it indicates patterns which are likely to remain broadly accurate.
In terms of distance travelled to work, residents of Thurrock travelled greater distances than
the average for England and Wales and East of England. 41% of residents travelled
distances greater than 10km compared to 35% of residents in the East of England and 27%
of residents in England and Wales.
This reflects Thurrock’s location close to Greater London and within its travel to work area.
Census data also reflect this with a significantly larger proportion of Thurrock residents
travelling to work by train than the national or regional average. The relatively low levels of
higher skilled and higher-paid jobs on offer in the local area may also provide a ‘push’ factor
which contributes to longer travel to work distances.
Table 4.3: Travel to work distances
England and Wales
East of England
Thurrock
Works mainly at or from home 9% 9% 7%
Distance travelled: less than 2km 20% 20% 14%
2km to less than 5km 20% 17% 17%
5km to less than 10km 18% 14% 16%
More than 10km 27% 35% 41%
Source: Census 2001
4.7 Deprivation
Thurrock ranks 124 out of 345 local authorities in England and Wales in terms of
deprivation, as measured by the 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), where 1 is the
most deprived. The IMD takes into account a number of forms of deprivation including
Income, Employment, Health Deprivation and Disability, Education, Skills and Training,
Barriers to Housing and Services, Crime and Living Environment.
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Thurrock is therefore in the top 35% of local authorities affected by deprivation in England.
There are also specific areas of Thurrock with concentrations of deprivation, including the
town of Tilbury itself. This is illustrated in Map 4.1 below, which shows concentrations of
local deprivation at the level of Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs). These are geographical
units with on average 1,500 residents; a number of LSOAs combine to make up local
authority wards.
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Map 4.1: Concentrations of Deprivation around the Port of Tilbury
Source: Arup, based on data from Department of Communities and Local Government, Indices of Deprivation 2007. Percentages denote percentile of rank of the 354 English districts. Districts in red
and orange colours are more deprived.
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Analysis in more detail of the IMD results for Thurrock reveals the following:
• 42 LSOAs (an estimated 63,000 people) in Thurrock fall within the worst 20% of LSOAs
in England as a whole in terms of Education, Skills and Training.
• 17 LSOAs (an estimated 26,000 people) in Thurrock fall within the worst 20% of LSOAs
in England in terms of Income.
• 15 LSOAs (an estimated 23,000 people) in Thurrock fall within the worst 20% of LSOAs
in England in terms of Employment.
It is notable that these are areas where the Port’s role as a large employer is likely to make
a significant difference to the local population, as it provides stable employment for large
numbers of people with opportunities for training and development, as described below.
4.8 Conclusions
The performance of Thurrock’s local economy in recent years lies in the middle of the range
between the stronger performance of the East of England economy at regional level and the
economic underperformance of some of the more deprived areas of the country.
On some indicators the area’s economy suggests some strengths, which in 2008 was just
beginning to achieve annual net job growth in excess of the regional target (although it
seems likely that the 2009 data will show a decline). Business start-up rates are also
showing a degree of vitality with a net increase of 575 VAT registered businesses over the
last five years for which data are available.
Unemployment rates had mirrored the national average in recent years of economic
prosperity, and economic activity and employment rates have fluctuated between the
national and regional averages. However Thurrock has been badly hit by the economic
downturn in terms of employment, with 2,300 additional benefit claimants registered since
July 2008
There are also a number of weaknesses in the local economy. While employment rates are
reasonably high, the types of job on offer in Thurrock are those in relatively low-skilled and
low wage occupations. There is also a degree of over-reliance on particular sectors for jobs,
with wholesale and retail activities accounting for a third of all employee jobs for instance.
These features may contribute to the relatively high level of out-commuting, where Thurrock
residents have to travel greater distances to find work than is the case at regional or
national level. They also contribute to above average levels of deprivation in the local area,
with particular concentrations in Tilbury.
These factors underline the importance of the Port to the local economy and its potential
contribution in particular to achieving local employment growth aspirations. The Port is
expecting to increase its throughput in coming years and this will create more jobs. This will
moderate other negative economic trends locally. This is however contingent on allowing
some expansion of the Port, in order to enable operations to be organised with the greatest
efficiency and to increase throughput.
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5 Current Economic Impact of the Port
5.1 Overview
Tilbury Port provides the location for a range of activities and the operations of 121
companies, including POTLL and 120 other firms which are either tenants of POTLL or
other operators based within the port boundary. The location of a number of some other
firms outside the boundary but in the nearby area can also be attributed to the Port’s
presence. Collectively these firms make a very substantial contribution to the local and
regional economies, which is assessed below by estimating the employment and income
(GVA) generated by their activities. Economic multiplier effects further increase this
contribution. The economic impact of the Port is also illustrated below by showing where its
workforce lives, and the types of jobs sustained.
Port employment and income has been analysed in line with Department for Transport
guidelines which classify it in the following categories:
• Direct: employment associated with the main operation of the port and supporting
activities.
• Indirect: employment associated with the provision of goods and services to direct
employers.
• Induced: employment supported by households of direct and indirect employees.
• Catalytic:
o Partially related to port operations – employment by businesses located on
port because it is convenient for their operation e.g. they may import raw
materials or export finished goods and wish to have manufacturing facilities at
the port for this reason.
o Unrelated to port operations – employment by businesses on the port estate
that are completely unrelated to the activity of the port – they may simply rent or
lease port land.
Source: Port Employment and Accident Rates, DfT (2005)
5.2 Employment
Employment at the Port has been estimated in this study from the records of POTLL, the
survey of tenants and operators, and details on companies around the Port from the Market
Locations database. This has been classified as direct or catalytic based on the firm’s
activities as revealed by web searches.
Indirect and induced effects have been estimated on the basis of economic multipliers.
These refer to economic activity (jobs, and also expenditure or income) associated with
additional local income and local supplier purchases from the Port.
5.2.1 Direct employment
The Port of Tilbury London Limited (POTLL) directly employs 540 permanent staff on a Full
Time Equivalent (FTE) basis and, on average, an additional 65 FTE staff on a temporary
basis. In addition, direct employment by operator and tenant firms is estimated to be 2,616
employees.
The Port as a whole therefore provides direct employment for an estimated total of
3,221 employees in total at the end of 2008.
5.2.2 Catalytic employment
A number of operator or tenant firms within the Port boundary are judged to fall within the
category of catalytic employment, that is, their business is at least partially related to Port
activities under the definition above. These include for instance the operations of firms
involved in processing grain and timber products. In addition, there are a number of firms
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located within Tilbury but outside the Port boundary which are directly associated with the
Port, the largest of which is a multi-modal freight carrier.
The combined catalytic employment of these firms is estimated at 991 employees in
total at the end of 2008.
5.2.3 Indirect and induced employment
Indirect employment comprises jobs in the supply chain; induced employment comes from
jobs sustained through the spending of those earning their incomes from the port and its
supply chain. Employment from these effects is calculated by applying employment
multipliers, which express the total direct and indirect employment effects as a ratio to direct
employment effects.
Multipliers can be measured at different geographical levels. The results of the survey and
data collected for POTLL provide broad indications of the level of multipliers, which can be
compared with data from other studies and estimates used for other ports, and the guidance
from English Partnerships’ Additionality Guide, reproduced in Table 5.1 below. It is
important to note as a caveat however that the survey for this research was not intended to
provide the very detailed information necessary to estimate precise multipliers.
Table 5.1: Employment Multipliers from other port-related studies (regional level)
Study Indirect Induced Composite
PLA 1.5 1.15 1.7
Dover 1.5 1.4 2.1
Flemish Ports 1.6 n/a n/a
EP Guidance 1.2 1.2 1.5
Bathside Bay 1.56
Felixstowe 1.69
Range 1.2-1.6 1.15-1.4 1.5-2.1
Source: Arup using Port Employment and Accident Rates, DfT (2005)
The level of multipliers is influenced to a large degree by geographical spread of supply
chain linkages and the extent of employment from the local community.
Evidence from the survey indicates that some 26% of spending on suppliers goes to the
district of Thurrock and 32% to other locations in the region. This indicates that a significant
proportion of the supply chain is local. On the basis that this is reflected pro-rata in
employment impacts, and assuming, conservatively, that second round and subsequent
rounds of supply chain effects are in line with regional medium level multipliers
recommended by the English Partnerships Additionality Guide, the local multiplier for the
supply chain affects is estimated as 1.28 for the local (Thurrock) level and 1.38 for the East
of England regional level.
Survey data is less useful in estimating the induced multiplier. The employment information
presented below indicates that a high proportion of people working at the port live within
Thurrock, and the area also provides a wide range of services including high level retail,
which may suggest an above average induced multiplier. The English Partnerships
Additionality Guide medium level suggests an induced multiplier of about 1.05 at the local
level and 1.2 at the regional level as appropriate. For the purposes of this exercise a
somewhat higher local induced multiplier and the EP based one for the regional level are
taken. These estimates are summarised in Table 5.2 below.
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Table 5.2: Employment Multipliers assumed for Port of Tilbury
Indirect
Multiplier
Induced
Multiplier
Combined
Multiplier
Thurrock 1.28 1.1 1.41
East of England 1.38 1.2 1.66
Source: Arup calculation
Based on these multipliers, it is assumed that indirect and induced employment impacts of
the Port are:
• 1,727 jobs in Thurrock.
• 2,780 jobs in the East of England region.
5.2.4 Total employment effects
Taking into account direct, catalytic, indirect and induced employment effects, the Port is
estimated to sustain at the end of 2008:
• 5,939 jobs in Thurrock. This is equivalent to 10% of all employment in Thurrock.
• 6,992 jobs in the East of England region. This is equivalent to approximately 0.3% of
all regional employment.
5.3 Income
Income generated by the Port has been estimated in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA). It
is estimated that:
• POTLL directly contributes £52 million in GVA, based on gross profit and employee
remuneration data in its published accounts.
• Tenant and operator companies at the Port contribute £151 million to GVA. This has
been estimated by applying average GVA per employee data at sectoral level for the
East of England region (as recorded in the 2007 Annual Business Inquiry) to overall
employee totals (broken down by sector) as revealed by the research for this study.
• Catalytic employment within Tilbury, related to the Port but located outside its boundary,
is estimated to contribute £25 million in GVA, based on the same method as tenant and
operator companies.
• GVA generated through indirect and induced effects at regional level is estimated to be,
£82 million, based on applying regional average GVA per employee data for all sectors
to estimates of indirect and induced employment.
In total, it is estimated that economic activities sustained by the Port as a whole
currently contribute £310 million per year in GVA to the regional economy in 2008.
5.4 Where workers at the Port live
Details on where employees at the Port live have been obtained using ISPS (gate security
pass) data. This records the number of live entry passes issued as well as the home
postcode of the pass holder. This is an approximate estimate as, for instance, some people
employed on the site are not issued passes, while others who are not employed on the site
are issued with a pass if they are required to come into the Port with reasonable frequency.
Nonetheless, the total number of ISPS pass holders (3,770 in August 2008) tallies broadly
with the estimate of port employment from the survey provided in Section 5.2.1 above
(3,221). ISPS data is therefore considered to be reasonably accurate about the residence of
Port employees. Table 5.3 indicates the number of pass holders in Thurrock and other
locations.
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Table 5.3 Area of residence of ISPS pass holders
Area Local authority areas No. of pass holders
% of total
Thurrock Thurrock 1,192 32%
Thames Gateway Essex (exc. Thurrock)
Basildon, Castle Point, Southend on Sea, Rochford
1,678 45%
Thames Gateway London Havering, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Bexley, Lewisham
266 7%
Thames Gateway South East Dartford, Gravesham, Medway, Swale 201 5%
Other locations 433 11%
TOTAL ISPS 3,770 100%
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited
In total of all ISPS pass holders, 32% live in Thurrock. A further 57% live in local authority
areas on either side of the Thames which constitutes the Thames Gateway area.
Map 5.1 illustrates the main clusters of residence of Port employees.
Map 5.1: Residence of employees of the Port of Tilbury London Limited
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited
Each dot in the map represents an individual employee, and illustrates a wide dispersion of
place of residence. The map does indicate however the concentration of employment in the
Thames Gateway boroughs, which are named in the map.
Map 5.2 below illustrates the local concentration of port employees in Thurrock by postal
code district. It illustrates the concentrations of jobs held by people living in the local area in
Tilbury, Grays, and other urban areas in Essex. RM 18 postcodes are predominantly in
Tilbury, while those in RM16, 17 and 20 are predominantly in Grays. SS17 postcodes are
mainly in Stanford le Hope and Corringham.
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Map 5.2: Residence of employees of the Port of Tilbury London Limited by postal
district
Source: Port of Tilbury London Limited
Based on the figure presented above, it is estimated that 1,348 people working at the Port
(or just outside its boundary in activities catalysed by the Port, i.e. 32% of a total 4,212
direct and catalytic employees) live in Thurrock. This illustrates the important role of the Port
in providing employment to people living in Thurrock and surrounding areas.
5.5 The nature of employment at the Port
5.5.1 Occupational breakdown
Information on the nature of jobs by occupational category at both POTLL and tenant and
operator companies based at the Port is presented in Figure 5.1 below.
Figure 5.1 Breakdown of employment by occupational category
Other
7%
Skilled / semi-
skilled manual
54%
Administrative /
secretarial
17%
Managerial /
professional
12%
Skilled non-manual
5%
Unskilled
5%
Base: 1,638 employees
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The figure illustrates that the majority of jobs are in skilled or semi-skilled occupations, with
a smaller proportion of managerial / professional and administrative jobs. The Port employs
a smaller proportion of people in managerial and professional jobs than is the case in the
Borough of Thurrock as a whole. Correspondingly the proportion of skilled and semi-skilled
jobs is considerably greater. This reflects the concentration of specific types of activities
carried out at ports.
5.5.2 Average pay levels
Figure 5.2 illustrates average pay levels for employees at the Port compared with levels for
employees working in Thurrock as a whole in 2008.
Figure 5.2 Annual pay levels of employees at the Port compared with Thurrock, 2008
£0
£5,000
£10,000
£15,000
£20,000
£25,000
£30,000
£35,000
Thurrock
median
Thurrock
mean
POTLL
employees
Port tenants
and
operators
All port
employees
mean
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2008 (workplace based); POTLL; survey data
Details from both POTLL records and the survey of operators and tenants reveals that pay
at the Port is significantly better than that for people working in Thurrock generally,
specifically:
• The mean annual salary of POTLL employees is £31,228 (2008). This is 41% higher
than the mean gross annual pay for employees working in Thurrock of £22,200, and
51% above the median of £20,677 (50% of employees earn above that level).
• The mean annual salary for tenant and operator companies, based on the questionnaire
responses of 35 firms is £24,631. This 11% above the mean level for employees
working in Thurrock, and 19% above the median, and probably reflects the
predominance of full time skilled and semi-skilled employment.
• The average for the Port as a whole (employees in all firms) is £25,628, which is 15%
above the mean gross annual pay for employees working in Thurrock and 24% above
the median.
5.5.3 Stability of employment
Information on the length of time that employees have worked at the Port is available for
POTLL employees but not for tenants and operators. Table 5.4 illustrates length of service
for POTLL employees, and demonstrates that POTLL is a provider of extremely stable
employment:
• 97% of POTLL staff have been employed at the Port for longer than 10 years.
• 19% of staff have been employed for longer than 20 years.
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Table 5.4: Length of service of POTLL employees
Category Number or employees in category
Average length of service
Administration 65 12 years
Cleaning Staff 1 23 years
Clerical 2 10 years
Engineer - Apprentice 5 1 years
Engineer - Civil 3 2 years
Engineer - Electrical 11 25 years
Engineer - Mechanical 14 23 years
Engineering Supervisor 10 23 years
Management 2 8 years
Middle Manager 28 13 years
Operations Supervisor 63 20 years
Operative 277 14 years
Police Constable 11 19 years
Police Sergeant 2 14 years
Senior Admin 16 18 years
Senior Manager 10 13 years
Substantive police inspector 2 22 years
Supervisory 2 9 years
Source: POTLL
5.6 Summary
The Port makes a very substantial contribution to employment in Thurrock and the East of
England region as a whole. While average wage levels are equal to the average for
Thurrock (and therefore lower than for the region and country as a whole), data on
employment at the Port suggests that the jobs on offer are relatively stable, providing an
important underpinning for the local economy as a whole. This feature of the Port’s local
economic impact is likely to be increasingly important as the UK economy as a whole slows
in coming months, and unemployment rises.
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6 Impacts of Future Expansion of the Port
6.1 Overview
This section reviews information on the future land and premises requirements at the Port,
and assesses the potential impact from future expansion of the Port in terms of additional
employment generated. Estimates of employment creation potential have been made using
two distinct approaches. Firstly, by assessing the potential impact on land for expansion;
secondly, by considering the potential increase in cargo throughput and accompanying
gains in terms of employment.
6.2 Future requirements for land and premises at the Port
6.2.1 POTLL masterplan
POTLL’s masterplan for expansion of the Port (see 2.6 above) identifies the following
projects to cater to increased demand between 2007 and 2021.
• An additional 11.5 hectares for container operations and backup;
• An additional 23 hectares plus necessary circulation and access space for general
cargo;
This leads to a total additional land of around 34.5 hectares plus necessary circulation and
access space.
6.2.2 Tenants and operator requirements
The survey of tenant and operator firms asked respondents about their likely future
requirements for both internal and external floorspace over the next five years, the next five
to ten years, and the next ten to fifteen years.
Figure 6.1 records responses of firms on whether they expected to need additional
expansion space in future, whether internal or external.
Figure 6.1 Will tenant and operator firms need expansion space?
Yes
22%
Possibly
7%
No
62%
Don't know
9%
Base: 45 responses
The results indicate that nearly 30% expect that they will need or possibly will need space
for expansion. The amount of space that those saying they would or would possibly need
more space is set out in Table 6.1.
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Table 6.1 Anticipated space requirements for tenants and operators (cumulative)
Internal floorspace (m2) External floorspace (m2
)
Next 5 years 7,000 4,700
5 to 10 years 12,000 9,300
10 to 15 years 14,000 10,000
The results associated this table have been included for information but should be
interpreted with caution as they include responses 45 firms out of a total 120 operators and
tenant firms. It is also possible that the results of a small number of firms not responding to
the survey might have large floorspace requirements that would significantly increase the
overall total.
Some estimate of the increase in employment associated with this floorspace can be made,
subject to the caveat just given. Studies on the use of employment land typically use
employment density (m2 per job)
calculations to estimate the employment impacts of take-up
of floorspace. Such calculations are sensitive to the density figure chosen. The Employment
Land Review for Thurrock (URS 2007) suggests a range of 67m2 to 84m2 per person.
Applying this density range to internal floorspace requirements would suggest 170 to 210
new jobs in total (10 – 15 year). Including external floorspace would increase this total.
The results should therefore taken as a minimum indication of floorspace requirements and
from tenants and operators and the likely associated increase in employment. Demand for
space and job creation may in fact be greater however. Allowing for the partial response to
the survey, the results are broadly in line with the Port’s own estimates and illustrate that
there is considerable built-up demand for expansion space at the Port. As the Port at the
time of the survey was operating near capacity, this demand represents potential economic
activity and employment that may be displaced elsewhere unless additional expansion land
can be made available.
6.3 Potential impacts based on land for expansion
Estimates of additional employment likely to be created if the Port is able to expand can also
be calculated based on the total area of expansion land at North Tilbury. An estimated
3,700 people were employed within the Port boundary in 2008, on 262 ha of land. Based on
the employment/ha ratio from these figures, expansion of the Port to include the additional
22.8 ha development area at North Tilbury (excluding landscaping and open space) could
be expected to lead to the creation of an additional 323 jobs. This does not include
additional jobs within the existing port area.
A similar scale of jobs growth (between 415 and 495 additional jobs) was also estimated in
POTLL’s response to the TTGDC’s South East Thurrock Masterplan ‘Issues and Options’
consultation as follows:
• Creation of an additional 145 jobs within the Port on release of 10ha of development
land as a result of implementing Phase 1 of the masterplan.
• Creation of between 270 and 350 additional jobs based on development of 22,500m2 of
additional floorspace as a result of implementing Phase 2 of the masterplan, based on
average employment densities for Thurrock of 67m2 to 84m
2 per person in new
employment.
The maximum additional employment at the North Tilbury site, based on the same
employment densities for Thurrock, using the maximum total floorspace in the frozen
Indicative Masterplan for the North Tilbury site of 86,406m2, is 1,030 to 1,290. The lower
figure may be more appropriate given the low employment density in large storage
warehouses.
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This gives a range of employment somewhere between 320 and 1,000 jobs. Given take-up
of this space, the likely outcome is in the top half of this range as employment would mainly
be in floorspace, for which robust estimates of likely employment density are available. This
does not include additional jobs in the existing port area enabled by the expansion and
reorganisation, which, based on the current average port employment density are estimated
at about 145.
6.4 Potential impacts based on increase in traffic
Estimates of potential employment increase are also made on the basis of an increase in
traffic at the Port. Figure 6.2 illustrates that total traffic throughput has increased from 6
million tonnes in 1993 to almost 13 million tonnes in 2007, a 110% increase.
Figure 6.2: Traffic trends 1995 – 1997
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
ton
nes (
mil
lio
ns)
Forest Products
Grain
Containers
Bulks and Other Cargo
Conventional cargo (incl Ro-Ro)
Source: POTLL
POTLL’s port traffic forecasts anticipate an additional 183% to 200% increase in traffic by
2021, taking throughput of general cargo to between 23 and 25 million tonnes, as illustrated
in Figure 6.3.
Figure 6.3: Forecast cargo growth
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
ton
nes (
mil
lio
ns)
High Grow th
Low Grow th
Source: POTLL
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In the absence of productivity gains, and on the basis of throughput per person (3,640
tonnes per employee, based on 3,700 employees and 13.3 million tonnes of cargo in 2008),
it is estimated that these traffic increases would create an additional 2,630 to 3,200 jobs
over the 2008 level to 2021.
This simple estimate does not take into account productivity gains and is therefore unlikely
to be realised. It is likely that productivity gains will in fact be made, although the scale of
those gains is difficult to estimate. Examples of estimated additional jobs created for
different levels of productivity gains are provided in Table 6.2 below.
Table 6.2: Estimated additional job creation from increase in traffic
Additional jobs Productivity gain
Low growth High growth
None 2,630 3,200
10% 2,050 2,580
20% 1,570 2,050
50% 520 900
Source: Arup calculations
Even with the achievement of high levels of productivity gain (in terms of tonnes
handled/employee) of 50%, the potential job creation of between 520 and 900 from increase
in throughput is significant, and is consistent with the estimates based on floorspace and
land at the North Tilbury site, allowing for additional jobs within the existing port. With more
modest productivity growth, job growth would be well above 1,000. In practice there may be
other constraints on growth in throughput and employment, and lower levels of employment
growth might therefore be achieved. However, taking into account the estimates of job
growth from expansion of the Port based on land and floorspace (i.e. sections 6.2 and 6.3
above) and from increase in traffic it is reasonable to conclude that future expansion of the
Port has the potential to increase employment in Tilbury by several hundred jobs at least
and up to 1,000 or more.
6.5 The impact of constraining expansion
As expansion of the Port is a very long term project, the economic consequences, if
expansion is constrained, should be considered over a similar timescale, and should not be
overly influenced by short term considerations, such as current market conditions.
The purpose of providing additional space for storage and logistics away from the waterfront
is to enable more efficient use of available waterfront space for activities that must have
waterfront access. This will increase the overall capacity of the port to handle the projected
growth in throughput. If the expansion does not take place, not only will this constrain the
growth of throughput, it will also impair the efficiency of the Port.
Evidence for the constraint on growth of existing port operators comes from the survey of
port users. Of twenty companies interviewed in detail, fifteen (75%) described ways in
which growth of their business would be constrained if the Port was not able to expand and
to re-organise its activities effectively to make best use of the limited space available.
Examples include:
• A container logistics firm with 35 staff at Tilbury, which pointed out that it has much
larger staff at other UK ports (it employs 400 people at Southampton, for instance)
because more space is available.
• P&O Ferries, which operates eleven freight ro-ro sailings a week, is expecting to bring
on two new vessels for additional sailings in the next three years. The company
described managing activities within its constrained space at the Port as challenging. It
is currently undertaking ground works for an additional container park, but has
contingency plans in place to deal with short term capacity constraints.
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• A firm importing biomass material for use at Tilbury Power Station pointed out that its
scope to increase supply of this source of sustainable energy production is constrained
by throughput rates at the Port.
A land constraint would also affect the ability of the port to compete for new business. The
evidence for this is that the Port has turned away business recently which it is not able to
accommodate on existing land. Value added activities are expected to occupy additional
space at the port, particularly to take advantage of the cost savings available from port
centric distribution of imports, avoiding transporting containers to distant inland distribution
centres and returning them empty to the Port. There are also wider environmental benefits
in this system from reduction of road traffic. Value added activities may also be attracted to
benefit from potential clustering and synergies with London Gateway. Without additional
land these benefits would be lost, and the Port’s competitiveness, compared with those that
are able to accommodate these activities, would suffer.
It is not simply a matter of growth foregone. If the Port is unable to facilitate tenants and
clients wishing to expand their own operations, it may lead in some cases to the loss of
those clients altogether, potentially resulting in a decline in the Port’s income, with a
consequent loss of jobs and income for Tilbury, Thurrock and the Thames Gateway area as
a whole.
The effect of stopping the expansion of the port would not be delayed until some distant
date when throughput reaches a fixed capacity limit. Rather, gradually increasing
congestion, and the perceived lack of capacity for future growth, would affect the decisions
in the near future of existing and potential new operators at the port when they think about
investment to accommodate new, or growth of existing, operations. With a number of major
recent and proposed new port developments, competition between ports is strong.
One direct consequence of restricted quayside land would be the need to automate
unloading processes for container ships to maximise space efficiency. This could lead to
loss of around 135 of current jobs in container handling. This estimate is made on the basis
of the reduction in number of staff required after automation of the Port’s paper handling
facility.
These direct effects would also have knock-on indirect impacts on local suppliers and
businesses that are supported by the port as customers or as users of port services.
Responses in the survey from a number of Thurrock-based firms servicing or supplying the
Port of Tilbury with goods and services ranging from engineering equipment and services to
stationery pointed out that their businesses and capacity to take on additional staff are
strongly intertwined with growth prospects for the Port.
International trade is very important to the UK economy, and growth in trade is seen by
economists as providing additional benefits to the economy by enabling it to specialise
where it has comparative advantage. Constraining trade, by the same token, is damaging
to the economy. However, given the competition between ports and the planned
investments in new capacity, it is unlikely that UK trade as a whole would be restricted by
limits at Port of Tilbury. The information available in the Draft National Ports Policy
Statement suggests that sufficient capacity, assuming recently permitted new projects are
built, will be available nationally to handle projected throughput forecast to 2030.
The principal effect would be to divert trade to other ports. Some tenants of the port would
find it difficult to expand and would relocate to other ports or, where they operate at more
than one port, would transfer business to other ports. This raises the question of where
trade would transfer to, which will affect the economic impact in the local area and the
region.
Transfer of trade to the developing London Gateway, nearby in Thurrock, would not be an
option for most traffic, as the London Gateway will handle different types of vessel, routes,
and cargos as explained in section 2.7 above. Consequently, any custom lost to Tilbury is
likely to be lost to Thurrock and the Thames Gateway altogether.
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Trade lost to Tilbury would probably transfer to the Humber Ports, or to shift to Ro-Ro of
traffic, some of which would have otherwise been moved by rail.
Individual port users, where trade is diverted to other ports, which may be providing a sub-
optimal service or involve longer journey length and time, will incur costs to change
established port use, leading to higher costs (including land transport costs). These are
hard to quantify. There are also environmental consequences from increased HGV road
traffic due to increase Ro-Ro and longer travel distances where trade transfers to ports
further from the inland origin or destination of cargo.
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7 Wider Social and Economic Impacts of the Port
7.1 Overview
Sections 4 and 5 above describe economic activities at the Port of Tilbury and present the
impacts of these in sustaining employment and income. This includes the catalytic effect of
the Port in attracting investment and jobs in a number of value-adding activities that are not
directly part of the Port’s operations, including processing grain and wood or fitting
components to cars.
In addition to these, wider social and economic impacts have been identified in relation to
facilitation of trade in the national economy, development of a sustainable logistics industry,
contributions to local workforce development and the Port’s use as a location for films.
These are described below.
A range of potential impacts identified at other ports have also been considered, but judged
not to be significant at Tilbury. These include:
• The role of Ports in managing wider waterways. The Port of Tyne and Port of Liverpool
for instance have duties to maintain substantial areas of river, undertaking surveying,
dredging and maintenance of piers and buoys. In the Thames, the Port of London
Authority rather than POTLL has these duties.
• Attracting inbound tourists or foreign visitors. The Port of Tilbury includes a cruise
terminal which provides a point of departure for outbound tourists to destinations in
Northern Europe and the Caribbean. It is not however a point of entry to the UK for
foreign tourists.
• Venue for events. The Ports of Liverpool and Tyne have provided the venue for public
viewing of Tall Ships races and power boat racing, but similar have events have not
taken place at Tilbury.
• Providing a location for boating clubs, marinas etc.: due to space constraints and the
layout of the Port, Tilbury is not suitable for such activities. Providing a port of call for
naval ships: port calls generate income for some other UK ports, but Tilbury does not
receive these visits, in part due to the layout of the Port and lock entrance.
7.2 Facilitation of trade
The UK economy is a trading economy and therefore depends on adequate, efficient, cost
effective port capacity. The port therefore contributes to the economic activity of businesses
using its services to handle their trade, and their prosperity therefore depends partly on the
port. This is impossible to quantify, but Tilbury handles a significant share of UK trade
which implies that the value added of the port’s users is also significant. As the economy
and trade grows, additional capacity is needed. Constraint on this could seriously affect
their economic performance.
7.3 Tilbury’s contribution to sustainable logistics and energy
generation
It is worth considering the contribution of the Port of Tilbury to developing a more
sustainable logistics industry.
Tilbury is approximately 22 miles from the Stratford site for the 2012 London Olympic and
Paralympic Games, and will provide a major port of entry for materials for the massive
building and regeneration programme for the Games. The prospect of Tilbury acting as a
gateway for construction materials opens the way for increasing use of Thames and the
network of canals and waterways linking Tilbury and the Olympic Park site, and for water
transport to provide a major boost to the overall sustainability of the Games. Tilbury is
already a major port of entry for substantial quantities of materials, including aggregates,
steel and other construction materials, with volumes set to increase in coming months.
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Closer to 2012 it is expected that Tilbury will handle imports of food, equipment, and other
items needed during the Games themselves. The growth of river transport to serve the
Games is also likely to establish patterns of transport that may be used after 2012 in the
wider development of the Thames Gateway. Tilbury can play a key role in the next few
years as the developments in the Thames Gateway gather pace with economic recovery.
The use of the river to deliver construction materials sustainably should play a major role in
minimising carbon emissions in construction projects in the sub-region.
An example of one of the companies contributing to sustainable logistics operations is the
Green Barge Company, which uses two and a half hectares of storage space at the Port.
The firm has been in operation since 2006, transporting aggregates, wood, scaffolding,
paving slabs and other materials to Stratford by river and canal. Tilbury has a number of
advantages for this work, as it has a deep sea wharf and excellent ship-to barge transfer
facilities. The company has 15 staff, most of who live in the surrounding area, and the firm is
hoping to double in size in the next 6 months with operations peaking in 2010 but continuing
into the longer term, due to the ongoing need to supply materials for the regeneration of
Stratford.
The Port is set to play a major role in renewable energy generation and waste handling,
following the permission granted in August 2009 for a biomass Energy from Waste facility
within the Port. This will operate on a combination of cleaned and waste wood, municipal
solid waste and construction waste. Located within the Port, the facility can potentially be
served by water and rail infrastructure, offering a sustainable solution to waste
management. The Port is looking at other low carbon energy generation including the
erection of wind turbines on the riverside, which have also secured planning permission.
7.4 Contribution to local workforce development
The assessment of socio-economic conditions in Thurrock set out above underlines that the
need for addressing skills in the working population is a key issue in promoting the
development of a higher wage economy in the area. The commitment of Port employers to
training and workforce development illustrates the important contribution that the Port of
Tilbury makes in this field. This can be illustrated with reference to both POTLL and the
operator and tenant companies.
7.4.1 Contribution of POTLL to local skills development
POTLL places great store on training and human capital development, as it is recognised
that this is essential to its continuing competitiveness. A number of different examples are
provided here to illustrate this.
POTLL has recently signed the government’s Skills Pledge to show its commitment to
supporting and enabling its employees to develop their skills from the basics to at least
Level 2 NVQ and beyond, and the strong partnership between management and employees
to develop the skills across the board. As an illustration of training activity:
• Over the six months to August 2008 108 employees, with ages ranging from 19-61
years, were either inducted as new starters, or achieved qualifications in 13 different
courses.
• A further 455 employees either trained or recertified on 43 different plant based and
operational type skills.
• POTLL has an internal management development programme.
• POTLL also runs a very successful apprenticeship scheme for port plant engineers.
Taking on four apprentices on an annual basis from the local area, POTLL is looking to
grow the apprenticeship programme into other areas of the business and is working
closely with Train to Gain and Thurrock & Basildon College.
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• Custom resulting from the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games and their
sustainable construction pledge has led to the first barge apprentice scheme in several
decades operating from Tilbury.
Third party training is also carried out for local external organisations across a spectrum of
skill based vocational courses, ranging from plant training and National Vocational
Qualifications.
POTLL has a formal partnership with Thurrock & Basildon College to develop programmes
in logistics, cementing a relationship built up over several years. POTLL, together with
Thurrock & Basildon College and other partners have also formed a consortium to bid to run
the Skills for Logistics East of England Academy to be based in Thurrock.
POTLL is also working with local Schools, through work experience and internships, tours
and events, and is actively supporting the government’s new diploma qualification.
7.4.2 Contribution of tenant and operator companies to local skills
development
The survey of tenant and operator firms undertaken for the study illustrates significant
amounts of money spent each year on training and skills development.
A number of larger employers at the Port who were interviewed described their own internal
training programmes, or the commissioning of a range of private sector trainers to develop
staff competencies in a number of areas. A local employment agency also described
providing agency workers with a range of training to qualify them for specific jobs at the
Port.
Details on annual spend on training were received from 26 companies participating in the
survey of tenants and operators. This revealed that these companies spend approximately a
total of £326,000 per year on training. Taking into account the number of employees in
these 26 companies, this equals approximately £450 spent on average on training per
employee.
Assuming that the average training spend for other tenant and operator companies is
similar, it is estimated that total annual spend on training by the tenant and operators
(excluding POTLL) at Tilbury is approximately £1.5 million per year.
7.5 Use of the Port as a film location
Tilbury is a working port for large ships and not a visitor destination in its own right nor does
it (or could it) include leisure facilities such as yacht berths or a marina. The Port does
however have a long history of being used as a film location, with the first film, The Berg
about the sinking of the Titanic being shot at Tilbury in 1929. More recently, a number of
large-scale Hollywood films have made use of the docks, including Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade, (1989) using Tilbury for a speedboat chase scene set in Venice, while more
recently the film Batman Begins (2005) also filmed at Tilbury.
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8 Conclusions
This report has described a range of economic activities carried out at the Port of Tilbury
and assessed the economic impacts associated with them. These include:
• The operations of 121 companies and other organisations located at the Port and a
further 23 firms located in Tilbury but outside the Port boundary.
• Direct and catalytic employment sustained by the Port is estimated to be 4,212 jobs.
• When indirect and induced employment effects are also taken into account it is
estimated that the Port sustains 5,939 jobs in Thurrock, equal to 10% of all employment
in the borough in 2007. At a regional level it is estimated that the Port sustains 6,992
jobs.
• It is estimated that the total contribution of the Port to regional income is £310 million in
Gross Value Added.
• Of the total number of direct and catalytic Port jobs, it is estimated that 1,348 are held
by Thurrock residents. The remaining jobs are held by people living in other local
authority areas.
• The occupational profile of jobs at the Port mirrors that for Thurrock as a whole, with
most jobs being in skilled or semi-skilled manual positions.
• Average pay for all employees at the Port is significantly higher than the mean for
people working in Thurrock. Jobs at POTLL are very stable, with 97% of POTLL staff
having worked at the Port for at least ten years.
In addition to these key economic impacts, the Port is also responsible for positive wider
social and economic impacts. These include:
• A significant contribution to workforce development in terms of spending by employers
on training (estimated on average to be £450 per port employee per year).
• Collaboration of POTLL with a wide range of partners to develop skills provision in the
local area.
• Contribution of the Port to wider sustainability goals. This is notable in particular in
relation to transportation of construction materials for the 2012 London Olympic and
Paralympic Games, with the Port already providing facilities for transport by water of
significant volumes of materials to the Olympic Park site in Stratford.
The study also reviewed socio-economic baseline conditions in the impact area for the
study, which was taken to be the local authority area of Thurrock. A summary of key findings
from this review includes the following:
• On some economic indicators Thurrock has a reasonably good record. For instance,
unemployment and economic activity rates have been better than the average for
England and Wales in recent years until the recession in 2009, though not as good as
rates for the East of England region as a whole.
• Nonetheless, there are also a number of weaknesses in the local economy, with local
jobs being predominantly in low-skilled and low wage occupations. Thurrock also
experiences higher than average levels of deprivation compared to the country as a
whole, and there are significant local concentrations of deprivation in some areas
including parts of Tilbury.
• Furthermore, there has been almost no net job growth in recent years until 2008 when a
growth spurt occurred, despite aspirations in regional and local policy for significant year
on year job growth in Thurrock over the period to 2021.
This report has therefore described and quantified the significant economic impact of the
Port and illustrated how these impacts contribute to local and regional policy goals. In
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particular, comparison of the assessed economic impacts with the review of baseline socio-
economic conditions underlines the critical importance of the Port in providing jobs and
income for local residents, and its contribution in addressing issues such as social
deprivation and low levels of skills. The Port has a particular importance at the current
moment because it sustains jobs in the Borough and region, in the context of weak
conditions in the wider UK economy and rising unemployment.
Finally, this report summarises likely future growth in throughput at the Port. The
development of the site at North Tilbury, is estimated to lead to the creation of between 320
and a maximum of about 1,000 jobs, where the maximum planned floorspace is occupied.
The likely outcome is in the upper part of the range, with potential for some further job
growth within the existing port in the period through to 2021. This increase in employment at
the Port is dependent however on allowing some expansion of the Port, to enable
operations to be organised with the greatest efficiency and to maintain its competitiveness.
Port of Tilbury London Limited Updated Economic Impact Assessment
Appendix A
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Ove Arup & Partners Ltd Draft 10 March 2010
A1 Questionnaire for Postal Survey Overview
Any information provided will be treated as confidential. The results will be presented and used only in aggregated form. Individual responses will not be disclosed to POTLL or any other party.
If your company operates from several locations, please provide answers with respect to your operations at the Port of Tilbury only. If it is not possible to give exact answers to all questions, it would be more helpful if you could provide an estimate rather than no answer.
About your company
1. Company name:
2. Main business activity:
3. How many years has your company had operations at the Port?
Employment
4. Can you tell me roughly how many people your company employs at the Port? Permanent (Full Time Equivalents
3)
Temporary
5. Approximately what proportion of your staff work in the following occupations? Managerial/professional ___% Skilled/semi-skilled manual ___% Administrative/secretarial ___% Unskilled ___% Skilled non-manual ___% Other (please specify) ___% Comments
6. What is the average salary for all full-time employees employed at the Port?
7. Approximately what proportion of your staff live in: The Borough of Thurrock (Grays, Tilbury, South Ockenden, Purfleet etc.) Elsewhere in the East of England (Essex, Herts., Beds, Cambs etc.) Greater London South East of England (Kent, Surrey, Sussex etc.) Rest of UK 8. Approximately how much does your company spend on training each year?
Customers
9. Approximately what proportion of your total annual revenue comes from customers in:
The Borough of Thurrock (Grays, Tilbury, South Ockenden, Purfleet etc.) Elsewhere in the East of England (Essex, Herts., Beds, Cambs etc.) Greater London South East of England (Kent, Surrey, Sussex etc.) Rest of England Scotland Wales
Economic contribution (Gross Value Added)
10. Please provide an estimate of the following for 2007-08 (for activities carried out by your company at the
Port only):
Annual turnover Annual wage bill
3 Count 2 part-time staff as 1 full-time.
Port of Tilbury London Limited Updated Economic Impact Assessment
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Annual gross profit (i.e. profit before paying taxes and business rates)
Suppliers
11. Please provide an estimate of the following for 2007-08 (for activities carried out by your company at the Port only):
Annual spend on goods and services from suppliers Proportion of spend on goods and services from companies:
based in Thurrock based elsewhere in Essex
12. Approximately what percentage of your turnover is directly dependent on activities carried out at the
Port?
Sites & Premises
13. What is the approximate area you occupy at the Port? Floorspace within buildings ______ sq. ft. External areas ______ sq. ft.
1 square metre = 10.8 square feet
14. Will you need additional space over the next 15 years?
15. If yes, approximately how much space would you require: Internal floorspace External areas
In the next 5 years _________sq. ft. _________sq. ft. In 5 – 10 years time _________sq. ft. _________sq. ft. In 10 – 15 years time _________sq. ft. _________sq. ft.
16. Please provide any additional comments or relevant information about your company’s contribution to
the local or wider economy:
[End of questionnaire]
Thank you very much.
Respondent details:
Respondent name: Phone number (i.e. for clarification):
Port of Tilbury London Limited Updated Economic Impact Assessment
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A2 Topic Guide for Phone Interviews with Key
Customers and Suppliers
Introduction
• Explain purpose of the survey
• Stress confidentiality of responses
About the firm and relative importance of Port of Tilbury to its operations
• What is your firm’s main business activity?
• Where are your main operations located?
• Why are your operations in this place – i.e. was having good access to the Port a key
factor?
• Roughly what proportion of your annual turnover comes from Port-related activities?
• How many full time employees does your firm employ?
• For locally based firms – where do staff live (e.g. in Thurrock, South Essex, beyond)
Growth prospects and how expansion of the Port might relate to these
• Are you expecting your business to grow over the next five years?
• If so, by roughly how much (e.g. expect revenue to increase by half again, double etc.)
• Does expansion of your business depend on the Port being able to increase its
throughput?
If the Port were not able to expand its throughput, how would this affect your business? (Would you switch to another port?)
Port of Tilbury London Limited Updated Economic Impact Assessment
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Ove Arup & Partners Ltd Draft 10 March 2010
A3 Survey Respondents
The following firms responded to the survey, along with two additional organisations that
provided anonymous responses.
A M Harris Refrigeration Services
A& T Freight Forwarding
ADM Milling
B&P Commodities and Logistics
Babcock Rail
Barnes Transport
Bryant Transport
Bunge UK
Caledonia Plywood Company
Candia Transport
CASTLEKEEP LTD
Centre For Seafarers
Cory Brothers Shipping Agency
D H L Freight
Daly Roman Haulage
Delphini
Delphini Services
Eggar Forrester
Eurest Services
Express Freight Services
Freight Agencies Forwarding Ltd
Garry E Childs Transport
GDT
Green Barge Co
H D S Personnel
HM Revenue and Customs
Interforest Terminal London
J T Mackley Company
Leggett Engineering
London Ports Health Authority
M. D. Howard Haulage
Maritime Transport
MK Shipping
MLM Distribution
Outen
Port of Tilbury London Limited Updated Economic Impact Assessment
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Patrol Frt.
Pentalver Transport
Public sector organisation
Samskip MCL
Stema Shipping UK Limited
TDG
Tilbury Container Services
Travis Perkins
Venners Logistics
vv
northern expansion at tilbury
Prepared by Arupon behalf of Port of Tilbury
Arup13, Fitzroy Street London W1T 4BQ
t: +44 (0)2076 361 531 [email protected]
Port of Tilbury London LimitedLeslie Ford House Tilbury Freepost Tilbury Essex RM18 7EH