News / New berths at London Gateway will be built, confirms DP World chief

Photo: DP World UK

Dubai-headquartered terminal operator DP World has confirmed it is pressing ahead with a £1bn ($1.3bn) plan to develop the fifth and sixth berths at its London Gateway facility.

There had been fears in the UK over the weekend that DP World would postpone the announcement – earmarked as a flagship statement as the UK government kicks off its International Investment Summit in London today.

It was said to angry at comments about its P&O Ferries subsidiary by UK transport secretary Louise Haigh and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

Last week Ms Haigh introduced legislation – drawn up by previous government in response to public anger over the dismissal of 800+ P&O Ferries seafarers – that will see a UK maritime staff awarded minimum wage levels and close loopholes that allowed such fire-and-hire tactics.

Sky News reported on Friday that DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem had decided not to attend the conference and the London Gateway expansion had been put in abeyance.

However, Mr bin Sulayem is scheduled to attend and has confirmed that the construction of the two new berths, as well as a second rail terminal, will proceed, subject to planning approval and regulatory requirements.

“DP World London Gateway will help make Britain’s trade flow in the future by connecting domestic exporters with global markets and delivering vital supply chain resilience for the whole economy,” he said today. “I am proud of this major investment which underlines DP World’s long-term commitment to the UK,” he added.

A schedule for the project has yet to be drawn up, but the operator said the expansion would “make it Britain’s largest container port within five years”.

The construction of berths five and six has always been part of the long-term London Gateway masterplan; by the end of the decade the port’s quayside will stretch more than 2.5km and be able to simultaneously handle six ultra-large container vessels.

The expansion is expected to create 400 permanent new jobs, in addition to the 1,200 currently employed at the site.

“As this commitment demonstrates, London Gateway’s location and transport infrastructure are ideally placed for expansion,” added Ernst Schulze, CEO for Ports & Terminals at DP World UK.

“With extra capacity comes the reliability and supply chain resilience so important to our customers and consumers, especially in uncertain times such as the pandemic and disruption due to geopolitical events,” he added.

London Gateway’s fourth berth began phasing-in operations this year and will take the port’s 2.4m teu capacity to around 3.2m teu a year on full roll-out. Throughput was just over 2m teu last year.

According to the eeSea liner database, Felixstowe remains the UK’s largest container gateway, handling 3.5m teu last year and has an annual handling capacity of 4.8m teu.