Leith docks owner seals £95m deal for London port

FORTH Ports has taken control of a major London shipping port in a £95 million deal.

The company announced it had acquired 67 per cent of shares in Tilbury Container Services, having already owned a third of the company.

The acquisition comes the day after Forth Ports announced the sale of the Ocean Terminal shopping centre in Leith. The 420,000sq ft centre was bought by real estate investor Resolution Property for an undisclosed fee.

Forth Ports said the sale would allow it to focus on its ports business.

Chief executive Charles Hammond said: “This is an important acquisition and a major step forward in our plans to grow and develop our ports business.

“We believe that stronger links between our container and distribution customers will provide benefits in the supply chain for them and further underpins our port-centric strategy.

Forth Ports now wholly owns the Port of Tilbury on the River Thames, one of the largest ports in the UK.

Last year, the centre handled around 314,000 containers and regularly trades on deep sea routes to South America and South Africa.