London Container Terminal in Tilbury this week received the first call of a new dedicated reefer container service delivering fresh food from Morocco to the UK. The service, operated weekly by Samskip, began with the arrival of the vessel Samskip Toubkal, carrying tomatoes and citrus fruit bound for UK supermarkets.
Samskip’s Moroccan Reefer Service links Agadir and Casablanca directly with Tilbury and the Netherlands. According to the company, it is currently the only container route fast enough to transport fresh vegetables and provides an 80% CO₂ reduction compared with road transport.
Ross McKissock, Director of Unitised at Forth Ports, said: “The arrival of Samskip’s Moroccan service consolidates our prime position in the reefer market for time critical produce for the country’s largest consumer market. Our facilities at LCT on the Thames provides a fast, low carbon, reliable and cost-effective alternative to trucking from Europe, showcasing the major benefits of our specialist deep-sea offering.”
London Container Terminal handles 500,000 TEU each year and has more than 1,400 reefer points.
London Container Terminal is a commercial port facility located in Tilbury, United Kingdom. It operates as part of the Port of Tilbury and provides services for handling containerised cargo, including specialised infrastructure for refrigerated containers. Its activities include receiving, storing and dispatching containerised goods for shipping lines and logistics providers.
Samskip is an international logistics provider registered as a corporate entity offering multimodal transport services. The company operates container shipping routes, rail and road logistics, and temperature-controlled transport solutions across Europe and selected global regions. Its activities include managing container vessels, shortsea services and supply-chain operations for commercial customers.
