EMR commits to its London area port facility

EMR Ltd., a United Kingdom-based scrap recycling firm that is one of the world’s largest, has signed a lengthy lease and committed to invest to upgrade at its Tilbury port facility near London.

An announcement posted to EMR’s website says the Tilbury site plays an important role in EMR’s activities in the southeast of England. “It acts as an export hub for the company’s numerous depots around London and handles over 1 million tonnes of U.K.-produced scrap metal, mainly iron and steel, every year,” says EMR. EMR says the metal is then “loaded onto vessels that can carry up to 42,000 tonnes at a time and be transported to destinations as far away as India or Korea.”

According to an online report from Port Strategy, EMR recently signed a 25-year lease with the Port of Tilbury that will entail investing £3 million ($4.3 million) to upgrade equipment at the site.

“We are delighted that we will be continuing to export from Tilbury, which is one of four deep sea export facilities we operate in the U.K.,” says Bob Garwood, EMR’s U.K. “The investment we are making in upgrading the facilities will help to ensure that the site is competitive and has the capacity to meet the needs of the group over the next 10 years.”

Comments Peter Ward, senior asset manager for the Port of Tilbury, “This announcement is great news for both EMR and the Port of Tilbury. We have a strong relationship with EMR and we are delighted that this will continue through this new lease agreement. This investment is a significant indicator of the position Tilbury has as a major deep sea port for the southeast of the U.K.”