LONDON, ENGLAND — The Port of Tilbury completed the expansion of its grain terminal storage. The flat store increases the capacity with 16,000 tonnes for the importing and exporting of wheat.

The flat storage facility is 36 meters by 66 meters and 6 meters in height. It is built adjacent to the existing grain terminal and utilizes the mill gallery conveyor system with overhead conveyors feeding the new storage unit automatically. It has a capacity of auto inload of 500 tonnes per hour.

“As we celebrate the grain terminal’s 50th year, this new flat store provides us with more capacity to support our customer’s growing volumes,” said Peter Ward, commercial director at The Port of Tilbury. “We are one of the U.K.’s largest grain stores with over 35 million tonnes of product handled over the past 50 years and we hope to continue to play a significant part in the sector in the next half century. Our flexibility, capacity and quality accreditations, including AIB, TASCC and Organic Certified, allows us to deal with any changing trade patterns.”

According to the Port of Tilbury, the grain terminal is one of the U.K.’s largest and handles over 1.4 million tonnes annually of combinable crops for both for the export and U.K. markets. With this new flat store in operation, the terminal now has a current storage capacity of 136,000 tonnes.

“The addition of this new flat store facility considerably helps Millford Grain as a business, and our customer’s requirements,” said Alistair Groves from Milford Grain, a customer of the Port of Tilbury. “It also underlines the Port’s commitment to long-term investment for our sector.”

The Tilbury Grain terminal located in the South East of the U.K. is utilized for the grain import and export markets handling grain from around the world. The grain terminal has more than 200 silos ranging in size from 60 tonnes to over 2000 tonnes, supporting the flour and ingredient market for the southeast, London and up to the Midlands. The terminal also operates a monthly coastal shipping service from Tilbury to its sister port in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, for Carr’s Milling.