Business is booming at Tilbury as carbon-footprint commitments of the Olympics organisers have fired the starting gun on the delivery of bricks, aggregates and timber through the Essex port up the Thames to the east London Games sites.

But the boost was not enough to save the dividend at Tilbury parent Forth Ports, where a slew of property writedowns in Scotland sent the business to a £30 million loss for 2008, sparking a 40% cut in the full-year payout to 28.6p.

Forth chief executive Charles Hammond said: "Tilbury has already seen an increase in volume from the Olympics effect and expects further substantial increases over the next few years.

"Because of the commitments to make these the greenest Games ever and to keep the carbon footprint down, a lot of the material are coming into our deep-sea port and then we are providing a barging service to the Olympics site."

There was a 10% rise in goods going through Tilbury with a fall in short-sea containers offset by a big jump in roll-on, roll-off ships.