The whole Tilbury site, owned by Forth Ports, is one of the UK’s largest ports, with 16 independent working terminals, 500,000sqm of warehouse space and 34 operational berths.

It is the biggest paper product port in the country and the key entry terminal for print and publishing companies in the South East.

Around 3m tonnes of forest products go through the port each year with 400,000 tonnes of that going through what has now been branded as LPT.

According to LPT asset manager Sam Stewart the 145,000sqm terminal, which offers 65,000sqm of quayside covered storage, could handle around 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes per annum more.

“We handle a great deal of reels and palletised product and we need to make sure people know we have the expertise, we have the space and we are open for business,” he explained.

“We’ve made a significant investment in the personnel, we’ve brought in £3.5m worth of new equipment in the last four months, including a state of the art stock management system and we have also opened our own centre of excellence for paper handling to train our staff, new employees and our customer base,” Stewart added.

“We bring a lot more to the table than just handling. We work with the customers to influence their business through providing accuracy of stock and real-time information, which gives them better sight of their stocks and therefore quicker throughput.”

LPT, previously dubbed 'the Finnish terminal', was created in 1999 in a 10-year agreement with M Real, Myllykoski and UPM-Kymmene, while in 2003 Stora Enso agreed a 15-year deal to construct its own separate paper terminal within the port.

LPT was subsequently outsourced by Forth Ports at the end of the 10-year agreement but UPM, Sappi and Kotkamills signed agreements with the operator last year after it resumed control of the site again, to use it as their UK base for paper distribution.

“We wanted to rebrand the terminal because it is historically known as the Finnish terminal and we felt that we were limiting ourselves,” Stewart said.

“LPT is also consistent with the port’s other branded facilities: the London Container Terminal and the London Distribution Park.”

Stewart explained that the terminal is now looking to attract more business either with one or two larger customers or a number of smaller entities. “We want to maximise the facility that we have,” he said.

“We would be happy for that to be a larger paper manufacturer or equally it could be a number of smaller businesses. It’s spreading the risk but keeping the volume there.

“The message we want to get across is that we are not just open to paper manufacturers but we are targeting shipping lines, merchants and distributors as well.”

Jukka Holsa, UPM director, Maritime and Port Network said LPT's location was key for UPM's business. "This investment in the new terminal is excellent news for our business and we are already seeing the benefits of the investments in both equipment and new technology.”

Sappi logistics process leader Daniel Thiemann added: “The new London Paper Terminal is a natural home for our business in the UK and this investment by the port will further enhance the excellent service we receive from the team already.”