14th September 2010


London Thamesport is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its opening, by the Princess Royal, on 14 September 1990.

Formerly the site of the Kent Oil Refinery, London Thamesport set new standards as one of the world’s first automated terminals, with a capacity of 360,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) when it first opened. Following the acquisition by Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd (‘HPUK’) in 1998, throughput increased to over half a million TEU per year.

David Gledhill, Chief Executive Officer of HPUK, said:

“We are proud to celebrate 20 years of London Thamesport. It is quite incredible how far this port has come in such a short time, serving hundreds of ships every year and providing excellent warehousing, transport and logistics services for all of our clients. It is an important UK hub for deep-sea imports and has some of the finest deep-water facilities nationwide.”

London Thamesport is one of the UK’s leading container ports and remains the only automated container port in the country. It is one of the few UK ports which can handle the largest ships on the market, with a depth alongside of 15m.

HPUK has continued to invest in the facility which is just 35 miles from central London and which has become the first choice for many shippers serving the south east of the UK.

More recently, London Thamesport has spearheaded the development of Port-centric Logistics, from a concept to an industry standard in just a few short years. A number of leading manufacturing brands, backed by their internationally recognised logistics service providers now operate at London Thamesport. The potential for further development is reflected in two third-party proposals for major new distribution facilities on sites totalling over 200 hectares, and serviced by the port.

ENDS

For further information please contact Paul Davey, Head of Corporate Affairs on Tel No: +44 (0) 1394 602063, Fax No: +44 (0) 1394 604943 or E-mail: daveyps@hpuk.co.uk www.londonthamesport.co.uk

London Thamesport (LTP) is located in the heart of Southeast England, 10 miles from the M2 motorway, 35 miles from London. It is one of the UK’s busiest container ports. LTP is a member of the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) Group. HPH, a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL), is the world's leading port investor, developer and operator with interests in a total of 51 ports, spanning 25 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. HPH also owns a number of transportation-related service companies.