Tilbury Container Services News

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VBS News Page

Welcome to the VBS news page. We will be using this page to update users on issues, news and articles about VBS on a regular basis. For enquiries please telephone the VBS helpdesk on 01375 363764 or email Bill Martin the VBS co-ordinator bill.martin@tcsonline.co.uk.

Saturday 3rd July 2010

There will be no VBS service from 14:00hrs, due to essential maintenance to the power supply.

Friday 25th June 2010

After a request from some hauliers (Sunday VBS Users), whose drivers would like to watch England v Germany, we are going to add bookings into hours 12:00 and 13:00 on Sunday 27th June.  I should point out that the terminal will be open as per regular Sunday hours and that this is a one off arrangement to accommodate the requests from these hauliers.

 

Friday 5th March

The move of QC3 from the riverside quay to the inside quay has been successfully completed. TCS would like to thank all of our customers for their patience and assistance during the move yesterday.

Monday 1st March

TCS are pleased to inform everyone that all preparations for the planned crane move were successfully completed on Friday 26th February so the crane move will take place, as planned, on Thursday 4th March from 09:00hrs.

Thursday 25th February

We are pleased to announce that TCS will take delivery of two new Super post panamax cranes this summer, which will be placed on the North end of riverside quay. In preparation we have now completed the refurbishment of QC4 and will shortly be starting the refurbishment of QC3. Due to some operational disruption caused to vessel operations during QC4 refurbishment, we have decided to move QC3 to the inside berth during the 3 months this crane will be out of service.

The intended move will take about two hours from start to finish and vessel operations will not be affected.

We have tried to minimise any disruption to terminal operations by adding extra VBS bookings before and after the move. Also, extra labour will be utilised to increase productivity on both quayside and landside.

All preparations will have been completed by Friday 26th February and the crane move will take place on Thursday 4th March from 09:00hrs.

 

Tuesday 16th February

After a recent incident at TCS can all hauliers remind their drivers of the following:

DRIVERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WALK AROUND THEIR VEHICLE AND TRAILER WHILST SITUATED ON THE GRID AREA.

There are signs up all over the terminal explaining this but we still have some drivers that insist on walking around their vehicles.

We are now keeping a log of all incidents and persistent offenders will be banned from the terminal.  This is a health and safety issue and we take it very seriously.

 

Friday 29th January

To all registered VBS users.

Due to expected increases in volumes and recent conversations with many of our regular haulers, where we have identified two areas of concern, TCS have listed below two ideas for trial.  We believe that the trials suggested should meet the demand in the possible increase in volumes and the two areas of concern.

Concern 1:     There are never enough bookings available

TCS will be upping the hourly booking availability from 30 regulars and 10 empties to 40 regular and 10 empty bookings.  These will be available from 06:00 to 17:00 every day, 18:00 to 06:00 will remain the same.  This is on a trial basis and will be reviewed on February 25th 2010.

Concern 2:     Bookings are only added one week in advance.

On Thursday 4th February we will be adding the booking template in to the system from the rest of February (three weeks).  This again will be on a trial basis until the end of February when it will be reviewed. 

TCS are making these changes to assist all hauliers and accommodate any upturn in volumes.  Please make your bookings wisely during this month once the template has been added..  Due to TCS adding more bookings per day and adding them for the rest of the month, we will be less sympathetic to no show cancellation requests.  If you take a booking please use it.

Whilst it is impossible to correct hauliers individual issues, TCS hope all hauliers see this as a positive move, on their behalf, to correct two common issues and request that hauliers work with us during this trial period.

 

Tuesday 26th January

Safety Rules for Road Vehicle Drivers at Tilbury Container Services

 

The following safety rules must be followed by all drivers when using the interchange grids at TCS. Failure to comply with these rules will result in your vehicle not being serviced.

  1. All drivers must wear a hi-visibility jacket on entering the terminal.
  1. No passengers(unless pre-advised for training purposes) are allowed past the entry barriers to the terminal.
  1. All vehicles must reverse on to their nominated grid.
  1. All drivers must put on their hazard warning lights on the grids.
  1. Drivers must not walk around their vehicles whilst it is on the grid

  These rules are in force to keep drivers safe and prevent accidents from happening.
    They must be adhered to so please ensure that all drivers are made thoroughly aware of them and that failure to comply will result in vehicles not being serviced.

Thursday 3rd December

Cyclamen (radiation detection system)

HMC have advised TCS that they expected to go live with the cyclamen system by the middle of the month. When the system goes live lorries that trigger the radiation pods will be stopped at the barrier and lights approx 100 metres from our exit. They will then be pulled into the lay-by for further examination. During trials it has been noticed that vehicles have driven the wrong side of the island in order to avoid waiting for the lorry to be moved to the lay-by which is clearly an unsafe manoeuvre.

Once the system is live any person carrying out such a manoeuvre would be considered to have “escaped” the lock down procedure and the police will immediately be informed and asked to stop the vehicle concerned and return it to HMC for inspection. The police then can of course also take what ever action they consider necessary under the Road Traffic Act.

 

Thursday 12th November

Between the times of 08:00 and 08:30 we are performing some system maintenance.

During this period the terminal will continue to be operational.

Once the system maintenance is completed an update will be added.

The system maintenance has now been completed successfully.

Thursday 29th October

We are pleased to announce that the Operational Terminal System is now fully functional.

Thank you for your co-operation and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Thursday 29th October

We are currently experiencing problems with the Terminal operating system which is impacting on our landside operation.

Our IT department is working on a fix but we do not have a time scale, we will however be issuing updates on our website.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused to you or your customers.

Tuesday 15th September

Civil works at TCS Pre-sid issue area Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th September.

Both remote lanes will be closed.

All remote haulers use the normal VBS lanes

All Haulers please use extreme caution.

Tuesday 28th April

All Hauliers are reminded that all vehicles on the terminal working area must have their hazard warning lights on.

Non compliance may result in your vehicle not being serviced.

Tuesday 14th April

For information

TCS allocated 310 bookings over the bank holiday, of these a total of 69 we actually taken by hauliers as bookings.  55 of these were actually used the rest were no shows.

The break down is as follows

Friday 10th April

18:00 to midnight

240 bookings published, 44 taken, 38 of these used, 196 spare.

Monday 13th April

18:00 to midnight

90 bookings published, 25 taken, 17 of these used, 65 spare.

Thursday 9th April 2009

To All VBS Users,

Due to TCS now opening at 18:00 on Bank holiday Monday and there not being an actual template at this time,  we have added extra bookings in the 22:00 and 23:00 windows, these bookings should be used as normal but they will be allowed to be serviced from 18:00.

We are working on this new template and will complete it shortly

 

POT Police Notice

Please click on the link below to see a letter we have received from the dock police concerning early arrival for bookings.

Notice from the Port of Tilbury police

 

All remote haulers.

This is a reminder of your obligation as a remote haulier

1 You must keep a paper copy of issued SID's.

2 Paper record of all seal numbers.

3 Copy of all reported damage.

4 Drivers must check import seal and container number.

5 All records must be kept for a minimum of 5 years.

As you are aware TCS takes no responsibility for export containers put through as remote, it is your responsibility to ensure you are in full compliance with the above.

Within the next 4 weeks you will be visited by a team from TCS to ensure compliance with the above.

Any user not in compliance will be removed as a remote haulier.