From Global Gateway to Next-Generation Urban Logistic.

What: The Thames Freight Corridor -From Global Gateway to Next-Generation Urban Logistics

How ports, river freight, multimodality and emerging technology could connect global trade more effectively with London and the South East.

Date: 28th October 2026

Time:

18:30 - 19:00 - Registration (In person)

19:00 - 20:30 - Presentation / Zoom

20:30 - Close

Location: University of Kent Business School, Sibson building, Parkwood Road, Canterbury CT2 7PE and Online

Speakers: Gyula Törzsök, Logistics, Infrastructure and Innovation Adviser:

Gyula has more than a decade of international logistics experience spanning project logistics, e-commerce and retail supply chains, followed by three years as a Director at the Thames Estuary Growth Board with responsibility including logistics and digital. He has worked extensively on Thames freight, urban logistics, multimodal corridor development and maritime innovation, and now advises public- and private-sector consortia on logistics, infrastructure, decarbonisation and commercialisation. His perspective combines operational logistics with public policy, technology and the practical challenge of turning strategic opportunities into deliverable commercial models.

CENTRAL PROPOSITION

The Thames should be understood not simply as a waterway, but as strategic freight infrastructure: a corridor linking global trade, major ports, industrial clusters and the UK’s largest urban market.

EVENT SYNOPSIS

The Thames is already one of the UK’s most important trade and logistics arteries, connecting global shipping, ports, industrial activity and London’s vast consumer market. Yet the river itself remains underused as part of an integrated freight system. This presentation will examine the Thames as it operates today and ask what a genuinely next-generation logistics corridor could look like. Rather than focusing on technology for its own sake, it will explore where real logistics value could be created: scaling construction and industrial freight, using the river as an urban middle mile, and connecting ports, rail, road, wharves, micro-hubs and last-mile delivery more intelligently. The discussion will be grounded in the policy and investment environment shaping the corridor, including Thames Freeport, the PLA’s long-term vision, London planning and logistics policy, and national maritime decarbonisation programmes, while remaining focused on the central commercial challenge: how to move from pilots and individual projects to repeatable, investable logistics systems.

WHAT THE SESSION WILL EXPLORE

• The Thames today: its role as a global gateway, industrial corridor and inland freight route.

• Three opportunity areas: industrial and construction logistics; river-based urban middle mile; and the digitally enabled, low-emission corridor of the future.

• Multimodality: where river, rail, road, ports, urban hubs and last-mile systems can complement rather than compete with one another.

• The enabling environment: planning, safeguarded wharves, Freeport innovation, port strategy, electrification and new digital capability.

• The hard question: why promising pilots have struggled to scale, and what is required to build commercially viable services.

Key message: The boat is not the innovation. The integrated supply chain is the innovation.

Full details of the exact location will be sent before the event to those registered to attend in person. The presentation will also be available as a webinar.

Note: If you are not a current Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, please be aware our membership team may be in touch with you using your email address provided regards membership opportunities. If you do not wish to be contacted please email and let us know at regions@ciltuk.org.uk

Description supplied by the event organiser.